Bleed For Me
by Kendra Luehr
Summary: (SxFxK love triangle)When Spike brings Katerina back after she killed Asimov, much tension is afoot. Both Spike & Jet adore the new addition since she can cook AND clean, but Faye can't help but be jealous. Will she allow herself to be so easily replaced?
1. The New Addition

**A/N:** Hey, all! If you guys remember Katerina from Session #1 (Asimov's girlfriend), she's going to be the one that Faye has to fight with for Spikey! You, however, get to decide their fates, so I truly hope you give this fic a chance and enjoy!!!! PLEASE R&R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CH 1

Turning and glancing over her shoulder in sheer consternation, Katerina was not the least bit surprised to find the persistent bounty hunter whom she had met earlier on in the streets following close behind in his trusty zip craft, the look of grim determination etched out across his handsome features both awe-inspiring and absolutely frightful due to the confidence that one single look retained.

It was then, at that very moment that Katerina knew that it was all over.

She and Asimov would not make it out alive.

She would never see Mars.

Bowing her head, Katerina fought back tears of unshed pain and woe that had been building up over the years like a suffocating sea of black, her delicate fingers weakly weaving over the trigger of her small firearm within the hem of her dress once she realized what she must do.

She would kill her one true love; she had to. He was within a hair's breadth from death, as it was, so she figured that she was performing a civil duty of justice.

With a heavy heart, Katerina raised her firearm, took a cleansing breath, then pulled the trigger.

BANG!

Feeling a wan smile slip across her lips with a surprising amount of ease, Katerina cradled Asimov's sticky and bloodied head against her bosom in silent adoration, her lovely violet irises shimmering over with an unexplained happiness as she and Spike locked eyes.

He was absolutely stunned.

Noticing the police in the distance up ahead, Katerina then sensed that her untimely end was near, yet, surprisingly enough, she was not afraid.

Curling her lips upward into a sorrowful smile, she nodded towards her mossy-haired onlooker as her silent good-bye, then closed her eyes in preparation for the unknown. _"Adios..."_

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Jet Black leaned forward in his pilot's chair and smirked upon seeing his partner sailing into the hangar with a shadowed figure lying upon his lap, his parochial mind immediately tallying up all of the woolongs that they would be undoubtedly receiving for this bounty.

Even though Asimov was a small fry compared to most, it was still more money than they had by a long shot, so Jet was definitely not one to complain.

Deciding to assist Spike just in case the bounty tried anything funny, Jet hurriedly abandoned the controls of the Bebop and cheerily trodded over into the circumscribed tunnel that led to the hangar, his mind drawing an immediate blank once his mossy-haired comrade entered the pod-like door with a beautiful young woman draped limply over his left shoulder in a half-assed fashion. From what he could see, she appeared to be unconscious.

"Spike...?," he questioned, immediately not liking where this was going, "That isn't...."

"Yeah," Spike apathetically interjected, "it's Asimov's girlfriend....I managed to rescue her before the ISSP totally trashed their zip craft."

"And Asimov?"

"Dead."

Swearing brusquely under his breath, Jet irritably raked his large fingers through what little hair he had left and snorted, his tone rather uncertain as he asked hopefully, "You're not going to keep her here...._right?"_

"I have to. She saved my life when Asimov tried to strangle me," Spike insisted forcefully as he handed Katerina's limp body over to a very surprised Jet. "Just consider it a debt to be paid off, alright? I think she's only suffering from a mild trauma and a sprained elbow, so she should be up and at 'em before ya know it."

Jet sighed. "Faye's not going to like this, you know."

Spike grinned. _"I know."_

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Faye Valentine let out a pitiful whimper as she stretched her long, slender limbs up towards the Heavens, a rather unattractive yawn escaping her full, rosy lips once she finally decided upon entering the Bebop's cramped little kitchen in order to find something to eat.

Checking the cracked clock on the cold, metal wall above the beat-up stove, Faye briefly found herself wondering how long she had slept.

Minutes? Perhaps hours?

All that she truly knew was that something onboard the Bebop felt highly amiss, and it was aggravating her to no end.

Faye was primarily a woman of normalcy, after all, so this unsettling feeling didn't fly by her too well.

Finally deciding upon a meal of rather dry bell peppers and beef without, of course, the ever-so-desired beef, Faye closed the fridge and began to spoon-feed herself the absolutely nauseating mush before egressing the kitchen and casually entering the main room.

There, spread out limply on the beat-up couch was Spike, a book that read _Walking on the Moon_ draped carelessly across his face like a mask, thus indicating that the exhausted cowboy was, indeed, asleep.

Rolling her eyes at her comrade's idle manner, Faye unceremoniously pushed his legs off of the couch so that she could have a seat, as well; Spike's ireful grunts of protest only causing the vixen to wear a proud smirk as she continued to greedily shovel her food into her awaiting mouth.

Giving him an innocent look with her deep jade eyes, she then placed her bowl off to the side, teasing sweetly, "So what's eating you? Did something crawl up your ass and die, or something?"

_ "Back off, Faye."_

She immediately held her hands up in mock surrender, then laughed, inquiring inculpably, "No, seriously....what's wrong with you? You look as if you've been through Hell and back."

"Gee, _thanks,"_ Spike grumbled, rolling his eyes before turning in towards the couch. "If you've got any other flattering remarks, please...._do_ tell."

Faye blanched. "Oh! I didn't mean....well....maybe I _did,_ but-"

"Just let it go," Spike pleaded, wearily draping a thin arm across his face before letting out a heavy sigh. "Kat was a real handful to take care of this afternoon since she's hurt _and_ has PMS, so please....no more 'I'm a bitch' from you today, _alright?"_

_ "What?!_ Who the hell's Kat?! Did I sleep _that_ long?!!," Faye demanded, by this point completely beet-red in the face.

Spike couldn't help but smile at her off-the-wall reaction, then shrugged, returning apathetically, "Kat's Asimov's girlfriend. He was our bounty that was killed, and you've been asleep for....oh, I'd say about 12 hours, maybe?"

Faye snorted. "Greeeat, that's _just_ what we need! Another female onboard to hog up the hot water!"

"Hmm...so does that translate to 'she pretty, me jealous'?," Spike teased, completely unable to prevent the grin that was tugging dangerously at the corners of his lips from forming upon seeing his comrade's terribly distraught face.

Faye, on the other hand, did not appear to be the least bit amused.

In her opinion, Spike was being an ass, and, as far as she was concerned, she had absolutely _no_ time for asses.

With a seductive switch of her hips, Faye then drew herself up and off of the couch in a terribly nonchalant manner, her voice cool and completely aloof as she noted aloud, "If you need me, Spike, I'll be in my room."

He smirked. "The day that I need _you_ will be when all Hell freezes over."

Faye stiffened.

_ Asshole._

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Katerina stubbornly wiped away the tears that had been forming along her lashes, her violet irises glistening with a radiant beauty as she continued to stand there amidst the moonlight upon the dock outside of the old fishing ship.

_ Oh,_ how she missed her sweet, beloved Asimov.

She had been so sure that she would have died with him, but Spike had foolishly intervened and saved her life before it could be taken away.

And _Spike._

He was so different from all of the other men that she had ever met...._so_ _carefree._

Katerina truly believed that he was man that she could eventually fall in love with, yet she was completely determined to never give herself the chance.

After falling so deeply for Asimov, she was afraid of love and its poisonous residue that constantly pumps throughout one's veins like fiery embers, forever eating away at every living fiber until there is nothing left.

Love is the universe's deadliest toxin; there was no doubt in her mind about that.

Sighing deeply, Katerina wrapped the tiny burgundy shawl that she had taken with her about her small, slender shoulders, her eyes closing as she dolefully allowed the evening chill to settle deep within her bones and freeze her very heart and soul.

She had no idea why on earth Spike was being so nice to her; she didn't deserve such kindness from an individual whom Asimov had nearly killed.

It was almost odd to her at how eager Jet had been to take her in, despite his gruff appearance and rather cold, clipped tone. It wasn't him that she feared, however. It was the girl; Faye Valentine.

Ever since they had met a few hours ago, the woman had regarded her with nothing but cold and bitter resentment. Why, she was not sure, yet she desperately wanted to befriend the vixen since she had been longing for a fellow female confidant opposed to the particular drunken, brazen-faced men that she had grown so accustomed to over the years.

Call her crazy, but Katerina truly, genuinely liked Faye, and it crushed her to realize that the feeling most definitely wasn't being reciprocated.

_ Bark! Bark! Bark!_

Gasping, Katerina whirled around in utter consternation, only to find the sudden assailant to be none other than a small, beady-eyed Welsh corgi and its rather ridiculous-looking boy at its side.

Laughing at her easily-frightened nature, Katerina held out a hand for the dog to sniff, then smiled, greeting warmly towards the boy, "Hello....my name is Katerina Muscovitz, but, since that's rather long, you can just call me Kat. What's yours?"

The flaming redhead beamed, then wrapped his long, spindly arms about his torso, chanting erratically, "Ed is Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV, reporting for duty, Captain Kit-Kat!"

"Oh! Well you're a _girl!,"_ Katerina exclaimed, now quite embarrassed as she placed a beautifully-manicured hand upon her bosom and let out a nervous laugh. "Y-you're also a _very_ pretty girl, at that.....is this your dog?"

Edward nodded proudly. "Yep, yep, yeppy, Kit-Kat! Ein is Ein, and Ed is Ed! Friends for all eternity and never separated until the end!"

Katerina couldn't help but smile. It was, at that very moment, that she realized that she wasn't dealing with just any ordinary kid.

Ed was....well...._Ed,_ and she couldn't help but be reminded of her distant cousin, Jamie, whom was as crazy as they come and _completely_ obsessed with chickens.

Jamie had been, however, a surprisingly very good surrogate mother to Katerina. Ever since her parents' tragic, untimely deaths, Jamie had taken her under her wing (no pun intended) and had tried to make life as cushioned for Katerina as humanly possible.

Living on a chicken farm proved to be rather irritating at first, yet, over time, Katerina grew to love the senseless clucking and her cousin's off-the-wall manner and speech as much as any other child would love their own home and family.

Once puberty came into play, however, things were a completely different matter.

Katerina's breasts had ballooned to such an amazing size that she began to fear that if they got any bigger, she might just sink into the ground due to all of the unbearably extra weight.

When she told this to Jamie, however, her cousin had merely let out a loud, booming laugh and had wondered how on earth Katerina had been blessed with such a well-endowed bosom when she and her mother, on the other hand, had mere mosquito bites for breasts.

All of Katerina's ex-boyfriends had most certainly enjoyed her large assets, yet she hated being so damned buxom. It prevented her from being able to run long distances without pain, and often attracted the wrong type of crowd; for better or for worse.

In Asimov's case it had proven to be for the better, yet Katerina most certainly refused to believe that he had merely fallen in love with her for something so shallow as her breasts.

She had loved him in spite of his terrible addiction to drugs and his strong desire for alcohol, and would most certainly continue to do so for many years to come.

Katerina was, after all, supposed to be floating alongside him in limbo, yet now that all of her plans had been foiled, she no longer felt the tremendous desire to see Mars that she had had the few minutes before she had taken Asimov's life.

Casting her glistening gaze up towards the Heavens, Katerina fondly interlocked her fingers with Edward's tiny hand and smiled, urging gently, "C'mon, sweetheart....let's go back inside. I think Jet's done with dinner, by now."

"Oh, boy!," the young adolescent exclaimed at the top of her lungs, breaking loose of her new friend's grasp and somersaulting over towards the Bebop's entrance without even waiting for her to follow.

Laughing at this, Katerina smiled, then wistfully turned and gazed over her shoulder at the twinkling stars above.

Letting out a light-hearted sigh, she brought her fingers up to her lips, then extended them out towards the Heavens, acknowledging breathlessly into the cool night air, _"Goodnight, my sweet Asimov."_

**A/N:** Erm...so how was that??? Any good??? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!! Only your support will make me continue, and I mean it! It gives me inspiration, so PLEASE give me some feedback! Thanks, I love you guys!!!!!!! :-D


	2. Jealousy

**A/N:** Hey, guys! Wow, I am SO thrilled that this actually got reviews!!! Believe me, I was REALLY surprised!!!! I mean, normally pairings/love triangles like this don't fly by too well with the readers, so WOW! Thanks!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!! Please R&R, and of course....ENJOY! ,

**P.S.** When Katerina tells the crew the amusing little tale about Asimov, it's a true story based on a friend of the family who actually acts like Faye, tee-hee. She's awesome.

CH 2: Jealousy

"No, Jet! You're _burning_ the _rolls!!!"_

Cursing, the balding man frantically opened up the stove and began to fan at the flames with the sole hopes of extinguishing them, only to immediately cause the exact opposite once they suddenly spread out across the pan like a wildfire eating up the dry plains of the Serengeti.

"Oh, dammit...I'm _butchering_ them!," he moaned, grabbing at his sparse black hair as Katerina then pushed him aside so that he hopefully couldn't do any more damage than he already had.

Readying the fire extinguisher that had been placed conveniently beside the stove, she then urged in an anxious holler, "Stand back! I need to get a clean shot before anything _else_ catches on fire!"

In one long, powdery-white blast of foam, Katerina had somehow managed to successfully smother all of the flames, her left eye twitching every-so-slightly as she tossed the now empty fire extinguisher off to the side with a terrible crash and turned in order to retrieve the back-up batch of rolls that she had prepared just in case.

"I guess bald guys were never meant to cook," she muttered sourly under her breath as she reached the rolls on the counter, careful not to burn herself as she placed the rather bland meal onto five plates and added a few baby carrots to the meager assortment.

Lovingly garnishing each plate with a buttery sauce as her final touch, Katerina then leaned out of the kitchen and declared that dinner was, indeed, finally ready, only to find the shock of her life once Spike, Faye and Edward all came clamoring into the commons like a pack of ravenous wolves.

Upon seeing the platefuls of _non-_bell peppers and beef, Spike couldn't help but salivate, his sense of good manner and charm immediately melting away before he jovially swiped one of the plates from Katerina's outstretched hand and began to shovel it all down without barely even swallowing.

Katerina was absolutely disgusted.

Never in her entire life had she seen such barbaric eating habits (besides when Spike had swiped her hot dog in Tijuana) that actually left her wanting to dry heave.

Managing a slight smile in spite of her sudden pang of nausea, Katerina reluctantly gave Faye and Edward the other two plates, truly fearing a recap of what she had just witnessed.

Edward, as she expected, immediately commenced in eating in just the manner that Spike had, but Faye, on the other hand, gave the dish a look of pure distaste, muttered something about how she'd rather be eating garbage, then put the plate on the ground for Ein to gorge upon.

At that very moment, Katerina felt as if she were seeing red. She had slaved away in a hot kitchen for hours on end teaching Jet how to cook _and_ making the crew's dinner at the same time, and _that's_ how she was being repaid for all of her hard work and dedication? By having her food be fed to the _dog?!_

Upon realizing how her rival was faring, Faye couldn't help but wear a self-satisfied smirk once she inwardly conceded that she was winning. It was quite clear to her that the poor young woman was trying her best not to become too flustered, yet, in spite of all that, Faye was sadistically enjoying every single moment of it.

While stretching her long, slender limbs up towards the Heavens, Faye finally decided to remark in a piercing, poignant manner, "Sorry that I wasn't hungry....guess I should've asked if you or someone else had wanted it, first."

"Yeah," Spike agreed begrudgingly, "you really _should_ have. I'm _starving!"_

Katerina couldn't help but smile, then, in spite of everything. "You sound just like my Asimov," she announced, a wistful tone within her pure, silken voice. "He was always complaining about how his stomach thought that his throat had been cut since we rarely ate due to always being on the run. In fact, on one particular evening when we actually _did_ eat, he made a complete ass out of himself! We were at this really nice bar that had all these beautiful candles and other eccentric little baubles, so when we sat down Asimov was more than overjoyed to find a small snack dish in front of us. When he began to eat the crunchy stuff inside it, however, it was then that I realized that it was potpourri! He told me that he thought it was just a new type of cinnamon-flavored trail mix!"

Jet couldn't help but guffaw at this since he had had a very similar experience with Ein's dog food, yet every one else seemed to now be in somewhat of a surly mood since they didn't even crack a smile at the rather amusing prospect of their late bounty ingesting some dried plants and cinnamon.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Katerina then offered to take everyone's plate before waltzing back into the kitchen, her steps rather light as she swayed back and forth to the hypnotic tune of an Earthling song from roughly the year 2002.

It was a beautiful, soothing old tune that she often hummed when she was in a scrape of some sort, and becoming the newest addition of the Bebop crew was most certainly no exception to the rule.

Just as Katerina began to put the dishes into the automatic dishwasher, a strong hand came down upon her shoulder, thus causing her to practically jump straight up and out of her skin.

Whirling around in total preparation to use her completely unique, dysfunctional form of Tae Kwon Do, she then let out a tremendous sigh of relief.

It was only Jet.

"What do you need?," she inquired with as much composure as she could possibly muster, still shaking ever-so-slightly from her sudden adrenaline rush.

Jet just merely shrugged his broad, hulky shoulders in response, returning amiably, "Oh, nothing, really....I just thought that I might as well apologize for Faye's behavior back there since _she_ sure as hell never will."

"Oh? Are you her personal negotiator, or something?"

"Well, no, I-"

"Then stop trying to be," Katerina snapped, abruptly pushing past him before calling reassuringly over her shoulder, "I'm _fine..._it's Faye that you should be worried about. She's the one with all the issues; _not_ me."

Jet eyed her retreating form with curiosity as she left the kitchen humming a sweet, yet completely unfamiliar tune, his brow furrowing every-so-slightly as he found himself wondering why there was something so strange between the two women that he could not quite yet grasp.

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"There...that should be the last of it."

Standing there proudly over the suitcase and assortment of goods that she had managed to loot from different sectors of the Bebop, Katerina hurriedly picked it up and lugged it as quietly as possible out of the guest bedroom and over towards the galley.

In spite of her tremendous love of adventure, she no longer had any patience left for the dysfunctional crew that had seemingly adopted her, and adopted was a term that could be used _very_ loosely. It seemed to her that most of the time she wasn't even welcome, so, in the long run, she had decided that she would just get out of their hair and leave.

Sure, it had only been one full day of living the rather uneventful life of a bounty hunter, yet Katerina was fully determined to meet back up with Jamie and help her take care of the chickens for the rest of her life, as incredibly boring as that sounded.

Letting out an agitated grunt, Katerina found herself frantically trying to walk through the rotating tunnel and tote her suitcase at the same time, only to find it be exceedingly difficult.

If it weren't for the fact that she so desperately wanted to get into the hangar and off of the Bebop, she might have actually laughed at her ridiculous display of perfected klutziness. That, however, was most certainly _not_ going to happen.

"Oh, for the love of..."

Gritting her teeth, Katerina set down her suitcase before once again attempting to muscle the door to the hangar open with her already sore shoulder, a familiar chuckle greeting her ears from behind due to her trivial attempts.

"There's a button that you press....it's on that panel," the sensual voice instructed casually, clearly trying not to express the tremendous scorn that the individual felt. "Yeah, that's right. You've got it, now."

Feeling her cheeks burning like flaming embers, Katerina reluctantly turned to face her aid in shining armor, only to blush even harder upon seeing whom it was. "Spike!," she exclaimed, absolutely horrified, "Oh, dear Lord, now I'll _never_ live this down!"

He laughed, then shrugged his shoulders. "Nah...I'm not the blackmailing type. It _does_ appear, however, that you were trying to make a little escape. Care to fill me in?"

Katerina snorted. "Do you think I'm crazy? Of _course_ not!"

"Well you never know with you Spanish."

_ "Excuse_ me?!"

"I mean....uh....sorry," Spike weakly apologized, anxiously rubbing the back of his neck as he uneasily met with his comrade's burning gaze. "I didn't mean anything by it, or anything....guess I'm just used to being a wise-ass, is all."

"Hmph...apparently," Katerina agreed, sighing in utter disgust once she realized that her plans had been foiled. "I'm guessing that I should unpack, then?"

Spike nodded with amusement. "Good guess."

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"Is Katerina here to stay?"

Jet nodded. "Seems like it. Now we might actually get to eat good meals for a change....she's _so_ creative with my cooking utensils."

Faye sighed, then unceremoniously flopped back against the cold metal wall, questioning rather dispiritedly, "Is that the only reason that you guys like her? Because she can _cook?_ Being a fellow bounty hunter, I thought that you might actually understand the prospect of her not being all that she seems."

Jet raised an eyebrow. _"Come again?"_

"Oh, for goodness sake! Katerina was a bounty's _girlfriend!_ Who's to say that she won't somehow pin Asimov's death on us and get her revenge?!," Faye demanded shrilly, her eyes retaining the fear and anxiety that she absolutely refused to show on the outside. "Don't you think it's possible, Jet? Don't you think she might be secretly trying to gain our trust, only to nail us as soon as our backs are turned?!"

"Uh...well..."

"Did we miss anything?"

Faye bristled like a cautious feline upon seeing Spike enter the room, the ever beautiful, enigmatic Katerina at his side.

Smiling warmly in their direction, Jet gave them both a friendly nod of the head, clearly glad to be free of Faye's rather disturbing outburst.

Offering Katerina his large, callused hand, he greeted rather demurely, "Why hello, Miss Muscovitz. Are all of the Bebop's facilities meeting to your needs thus far?"

"Oh, yes, thank you," she returned, rather flattered that both Spike and Jet were suddenly going out on a limb to see that she was comfortable. "This is a beautiful ship....whoever bought it has remarkable taste."

Jet beamed like a fool while Faye made a face. It was _beyond_ her as to how on earth the wisest of the crew had fallen head over heels for the newcomer's bewitching charm, yet Spike was surprisingly no better.

Ever since her arrival, he had made sure that Katerina was well taken care of, despite the minor detail that he was never the one to do the caring.

For just once in her life Faye would like to be pampered and receive the love and appreciation that she so sorely deserved. Neither Spike nor Jet ever paid the slightest bit of attention to her, and it hurt deeply to realize that the only one onboard the ship that had even the slightest bit of interest in her was the kid, and _that_ wasn't saying much. Edward had the attention span of a gnat and was twice as annoying.

What good did it do her to be surrounded by a bunch of jerk-offs that would have much preferred it if she were dead opposed to alive, anyway?

Faye knew that she was decent-looking, so that most certainly couldn't be the problem. Maybe she showed too _much_ skin?

No...she couldn't give up her best strategy for bounty hunting.

Perhaps her bad tendency to have PMS 24/7, even when she _wasn't_ on her period?

Hmph....that _could_ be it. She never was the friendliest person, after all. She loved to drink, swear, and gamble; everything that the "perfect" new addition wasn't.

Frowning, Faye then came to realize that she had quite a bit of competition on her hands, yet that didn't phase her in the slightest.

She _was,_ after all, _the_ Faye Valentine, and whatever she wanted, she got.

**A/N:** ::swallows:: So was that any good??? I'm hoping to make this a really cool/intersting story, but...well...it all depends on you for how it's gonna turn out since you decide the pairing! Whoo-hoo! Power to the people, right? P LoL I won't say who's winning so far in the reviews cuz I don't wanna influence anybody! If you're THAT interested, you can go see, if you'd like. LoL So yeah, the whole potpourri thing was true, & the woman that told the story actually DID end up eating dog food on the same night since she also thought that they were some sort of treat, so I tied that in, as well, for Jet, in case you didn't notice, hahahaha. Thanks a million for reading! Now please review! PLEASE???? 'Tis the holiday spirit! LOVE YA!!! -


	3. The Pocket Watch

**NOTE: Please check out my A/N at the end of this chapter…I have some very important stuff to tell you! That, and thanks to all of my completely AWESOME reviewers that have stuck by me! You ROCK!!!!!!!! :) Oh...and I realized that I haven't disclaimed Bebop EVER, so it's now officially disclaimed!!!!**

**CH 3: The Pocket Watch**

"Hmm...you really need to get yourself a new dress, Miss Muscovitz. Perhaps Faye will give you one of hers."

Katerina regarded the balding man before her with a warm smile, then shrugged her shoulders. "Oh, don't even bother, Mr. Black. I'm perfectly fine with just re-washing this old thing."

"B-but the holes..."

"Nothing that a little sewing can't fix right up," she insisted, winking before returning to the pot of rice she was cooking on the stove. "Besides, I wouldn't want to wear anything that that woman owns since it'd make much more sense to walk around completely naked. At least _that_ looks practical."

Jet couldn't help but laugh at this sudden declaration, then nod in agreement. "Although you _do_ make an excellent point, I'd still feel much better if you weren't wearing something that's practically in rags. It gets really cold on here at night, and I don't think that that thing will serve you too well. In fact, I'll just go ahead and call the minx in here right now. Faye....._FAYE!!!"_

_"WHAT?!"_

_"GET IN HERE, NOW!!!"_

There came a brief pause, then a torrent of stomping and cursing as the vixen made her grand entrance into the kitchen, her left eye twitching ever-so-slightly as she demanded in a tired, edgy voice, "What the hell do you want, Jet?! I've got my hands full as it is with Baker Pancherero, out there, so whatever it is that you want, make Spike do it!"

"Spike doesn't have a dress," he insisted, folding his brawny arms to show that he meant business. "Katerina, here, is in dire need of a new wardrobe, so I want _you_ to help her out."

Faye drooped. "Oh, my freaking God! You have _got_ to be kidding me! There is just no way in hell that I'm sharing _my_ clothes with _that_ bitch!"

"You're going to do it and you're going to like it!," Jet growled, immediately lunging forward to allow his full height to tower over her. "Katerina is our guest, so I suggest that you start showing some respect for her! She needs your help right now, so for the love of God, take a Midol!!!"

Faye flinched as if she had been slapped. What an insensitive asshole!

Grumbling profanities under her breath, Faye then spun around on her heel in order to go see what she had for their 'charming' little guest, Jet immediately sending Katerina an apologetic glance before leaning dispiritedly against the doorway of the kitchen and letting out a heavy sigh.

"I'm really sorry you had to see that...Faye can be so stubborn, sometimes," he mumbled, subconsciously mopping his brow as he watched the cheery brunette continue to cook as if nothing in the world could possibly phase her. "If there's anything else that you need, I'll-"

"Is there anything that _you_ need, you mean," Katerina corrected, immediately stopping what she was doing so that she could turn and face him. "That pocket watch...you've been staring at it all morning. I also overheard your conversation with Donelly......Alisa must've meant a great deal to you."

Jet choked in utter astonishment upon realizing that his secret was out, his hand instinctively tightening about the silver time piece within his palm as he took a deep breath and cleared his throat, demanding rather shakily, "A-and what if it does? Is it really any of your business to begin with?"

"I suppose not," Katerina agreed, "but I just thought that maybe I could help."

"Only if you can mend a broken heart," Jet returned bitterly, his deep baritone soft and wistful as he bowed his head forward and sighed. "It's been years since I've pulled this damned thing out, yet for some odd reason I had the sudden compulsion to do so and remember all the wonders of my past; to remember _her._"

Katerina smiled sadly. "Love works in mysterious ways, Mr. Black. You can never truly predict what your heart will want next."

Jet looked up at her, then, and smiled an actual smile. "Please," he urged, "call me Jet."

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Grinning from ear-to-ear as he pocketed his now full debit card, Spike couldn't help but whistle a lively tune before exiting the ISSP station and out into the warm Ganymede air, an agitated grunt escaping his throat as he found Faye waiting there for him on the steps for her share of the bounty.

Suddenly breaking into an unexpected smirk, Faye commented slyly, "Sense of justice and duty, huh?"

"First time he's home in years...of _course_ he's gonna go see her," Spike insisted, somehow instantly knowing what she meant.

Rolling her eyes at this, Faye admonished scornfully, "You know, he's kidding himself if he thinks that his old girlfriend's carrying a torch for him. I'm sure she's moved on to bigger, better men by now."

Spike froze, then, suddenly sympathizing with his older comrade before he turned around, a smug smile now upon his lips as he defended coolly, "And _you're_ kidding yourself if you think every woman's like you. They're _not,_ you know."

"What?! I-"

"Where's Kat?," he hurriedly cut in, truly not wanting to hear Faye's most-likely pitiful rebuttal. "Did you leave her all alone on the ship with that kid and her mutt?"

"You _know_ I did. There's no way in hell that I'd bring that irritant along," Faye returned crisply, her arms folding neatly beneath her breasts as she held her head high. "If you're so freaking worried about her, why don't you just go back, already?"

Spike smirked. "Why, ya jealous?"

"I...," Faye faltered. "No, I....urgh, of _course_ not! Quit being such a stupid ass and give me my money!"

"Why, so you can lose it all at the races?," Spike gibed dryly in return, his smirk still firmly in place as he handed over his debit card, which he instantly realized was very stupid.

Greedily snatching it from his finger tips, Faye then placed it within the interior of her boot and flashed him a bewitching smile, cooing sweetly in response, "It's always a pleasure to do business with you, Mr. Spiegel....have a nice day!"

With a careless flick of the wrist as her final good-bye, she spun around on her heel and sauntered off in the general direction of the Redtail, Spike raising an eyebrow once he noticed how she made extra care to switch her ass back and forth as much as humanly possible for all the male population in Ganymede to ogle.

Spike rolled his eyes.

_Women._

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"Faye...I want to talk to you."

The violet-haired vixen snorted, then continued to apply generous amounts of suntan lotion to her bikini-clad body. "Well what if _I_ don't want to talk to _you?,"_ she demanded, never meeting with her new comrade's gaze. "I've got much more important things to do than associate with low-life slags."

"What, sunbathing? How _very_ important," Katerina scoffed, folding her arms neatly beneath her well-endowed bosom as she shot her an agitated look. "I know that you don't like me very much, Faye, and for that I'm sorry. Being a fellow woman, I was hoping that you'd understand that we need to stick together since it's just me and you against the men."

Faye rolled her eyes. "Sorry, but if you were hoping for me to just full-out embrace you and start inviting you to fun little shindigs where we gossip about hot guys, you're shitting yourself much more than I originally thought. If it's a friend you're after, go take your proposition to the kid; she could sure use a new friend besides that worthless mutt. I, on the other hand, need _no_ one."

Katerina felt her stance stiffen, yet she made no sudden move to strike out at the obnoxiously smug woman before her. Instead, she nodded, agreeing miserably, "You're right.....I _was_ foolish to think that you'd want to be my friend."

Faye was absolutely astounded. "What did you just say?"

"You have every right to hate me," Katerina continued, not even bothering to acknowledge her comrade's simple question. "I just waltzed in one day and took everything that you held dear away from you......your spot as the only femme fatale, your father-figure, your dignity, and last but not least, your time alone with your boyfriend."

Faye blanched. "What the _hell_ are you talking about?! I _have_ no boyfriend!"

"Oh...but I thought Spike..."

"In his _dreams,"_ she scoffed, trying her damndest to prevent her cheeks from turning any redder than they already were. "If there's anything _else_ that you'd like to impose upon me, save it for another century. As of now, I'm officially not speaking to you!"

Katerina raised an eyebrow at her off-the-wall, childish behavior, then shrugged it off, acknowledging softly, "Very well....I suppose that I should go and find Jet, now. The poor man's in no condition to just be off on his own like this."

Faye balked at her comrade, then immediately shook her head. "And how do you propose that you're going to do _that?,"_ she demanded, removing her sunglasses to reveal her terribly smug countenance. "You don't have a zip craft, and even if you did, do you think you could even pilot it?"

"I could," Katerina decided. "I've always watched Asimov control ours, so surely it isn't that difficult. Do you think that Spike would mind if I borrowed his for a bit?"

Faye laughed loudly as if she had just heard a wonderful joke. "Are you _kidding?_ That thing's his baby! If he caught you even _touching_ it, he'd-"

"Great...tell him I'll hopefully be back before sundown," Katerina interjected, immediately racing out towards the off-red zip craft that was foolishly being stationed outside of the docking bay. A lone tool box was sitting conveniently nearby, so she figured that Spike was on some sort of break from tinkering with the mechanical monstrosity. Why he didn't just kick the stupid thing was absolutely _beyond_ her; Asimov's ship always worked better when he kicked it.

Finally reaching the hulky beast and beginning to mount it, Katerina froze the moment that the ship's comm. link beeped furiously from behind, almost instantly followed by a crackly voice that demanded urgently, _"Where's Jet?"_

Katerina faltered. "Uh...he went off somewhere on some personal errands. Why?"

_"Your his partner, right?"_

She nodded with slight hesitation. "Uh, yes...yes, I am."

_"Well I've got some information on a new bounty head,"_ the voice continued in a hushed monotone. _"This isn't public, yet, but his name's Rhint Celonias...a thug who operates down at the port of Marvis. Last night he got a run-in with a money guy named Law Rentzuo, another low-life scam artist. The guy's dead."_

Katerina raised an eyebrow. "And should this be of some importance to me or Jet?"

_"Yeah......Rhint's Alisa's boyfriend. I just figured you'd wanna know."_

"Oh!," Katerina exclaimed, immediately hauling herself up and into the cockpit. "I've got to warn Jet! Thank you so very much, Mr. Donelly!"

_"No problem."_

Switching the comm. link off with the flick of her forefinger, Katerina then strapped herself into the pod and glanced fixedly around at the blinking buttons on the console.

"Hmm...well here's the key," she thought aloud, picking it up from underneath the floor mat before carefully inserting it into the ignition. "A rather foolish place to keep such a thing, but whatcha gonna do?"

Turning the key so that the engines roared to life, Katerina roughly stepped on the gas, her heart leaping up into her throat once the Swordfish II blasted off of the ramp and up into the clear blue skies of Ganymede like a miniature rocket, her eyes widening once she glanced behind her and noticed a masculine figure with fluffy green hair frantically waving his arms and jumping up and down with the hopes of getting her to stop.

She smiled warmly. "Sorry, Spike, but this chick's gotta split."

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"Excuse me…could you please tell me where _La Fin_ is?"

The old man that had been addressed looked up at Katerina with utmost curiosity, his brow crinkling sufficiently as he took a drag from his half-used cigarette and nodded. "Ay, madam....take a right after ya finish walkin' down 'dis street. Ya can't miss it."

"Thank you very much," Katerina acknowledged, nodding politely in his direction before placing five woolongs within the palm of his hand. "Take care, sir."

Absolutely flabbergasted by her generosity, the old man went to thank her, but Katerina had already gone, her long, luxurious brown locks flowing gracefully behind her in the wind as she paused to take off her high-heeled shoes so that she could walk more comfortably.

Smiling to herself, Katerina then realized that the recent men in her life both had big noses; a very good sign.

As a child of ten years old, she had decided that she very much disliked her small button nose, so, in result, she had declared that she would only fall in love with men that had larger noses than her own so that they would be well-balanced.

Silly though it was, Katerina realized that she always tended to fall for men with rather large noses, Asimov most certainly being no exception. Her nose had definitely grown since her childhood, yet that didn't stop her from wanting to be 'well-balanced'.

Jet definitely had a bigger nose than Spike, but did that really even matter? She had already promised herself that she wouldn't fall for either one of them, so, to her slight reluctance, she realized that she had to stop comparing and contrasting the men to the absurd standards of her early childhood fantasies.

Finally taking her eyes off of her tired bare feet and glancing upward, Katerina let out a delighted gasp upon realizing that she had finally reached _La Fin._

Hastening over toward the small, shoddy building on long legs, Katerina frowned as a small piece of white paper tacked onto the door suddenly came into view.

"Gone fishing," she read breathlessly aloud, "well what sort of a note is _that_ to leave? This is a business, is it not?"

Terribly disappointed that she had not found Rhint, Alisa, _or_ Jet, Katerina slowly turned around in order to make her leave, a loud _'crash'_ coming from the Ganymede wharf freezing her directly in her tracks.

_"Jet,"_ she gasped, now blindly racing towards the direction of the terrible noise with the hopes of finding her comrade safe and sound. Oh, why did it seem that everyone that she cared about was involved in some sort of dangerous expedition? _Sheesh._ Talk about non-stop drama.

Immediately spotting Jet's hulky figure in the distance, Katerina forced herself to move faster, the skirts of her burgundy dress tangling about her legs and making her running all the more difficult as she tucked her shoes under one arm and cupped her hand over her mouth. "Jet!," she hollered, practically breathless from her over-exertion, "Leave Rhint and Alisa be! They could be armed!"

Jet, however, didn't even appear to be listening, his stony features hard and completely unwavering as he continued to stand there before his beloved Alisa like a lovelorn fool.

"Jet!," Katerina tried again, _"please_ listen to me! Rhint's a bounty head!"

Finally turning to face her, her balding comrade gave her a pained look, then nodded. "I already know, Katerina. Spike called to let me know since you apparently stole his zip craft _and_ our bounty information."

Katerina blushed. "W-well, I-"

_"Enough!,"_ Alisa suddenly exclaimed, her hands trembling as she withdrew a firearm from within her coat pocket and aimed it squarely at her ex. "This ends _here,_ Jet! If you want Rhint, you'll have to get through _me,_ first!"

Jet's hard features softened. "Alisa..."

_BANG!_

A stray bullet grazed his boot.

_BANG! BANG! BANG!_

Again, Jet found himself with Lady Luck on his side as Alisa misfired repeatedly all about his tall and hulky figure, his sky blue eyes appearing to be pained and bewildered all at the same time as he looked her shaking figure over with severe empathy.

"You were just like this back then, too," she revealed tearfully, causing him to stiffen on impulse. "You decided everything, and yet......you were always right. When I was there with you, I never had to do anything by myself. All I had to do was hang onto your arm like a child without a care in the world...I wanted to live my _own_ life and make my own decisions, even if that turned out to be one huge terrible mistake."

Jet watched on with a deep solemnity as Alisa allowed her firearm to slowly slip between her fingers and strike the ground with a subtle clatter, her sobs soft and surprisingly controlled as she slumped down to her knees and bowed her head forward in utter despair.

Seeing this as his chance to escape, Rhint immediately staggered up to his feet and broke into a run, but Jet effortlessly caught him by his shirt collar and yanked him back to his rightful position.

"Please let me go!," he begged, "I-I don't wanna go to prison! Let go! Please! _Please,_ let me go!"

Frowning, Jet finally just struck him square across the jaw with the hopes of easing the young man's hysteria, Katerina and Alisa watching on in absolute astonishment as he muttered, "You'll survive this......be strong and take care of her for me."

Rhint nodded and forced a meager smile, yet it never truly reached his eyes.

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"So what are you going to do, now?"

Alisa smiled sadly. "Well I won't be on the run, anymore....I'll just wait here in my tavern for Rhint to return to me."

"If it helps, I don't think you'll be waiting very long. Time never stands still, you know," Jet revealed, smiling warmly as his ex turned around to face him with a genuine smile of her own.

To her absolute surprise, however, he was already leaving, Katerina wrapped supportively about his left arm as he gave her a polite wave good-bye with his right.

Placing his free hand into his pocket, he suddenly stopped, Katerina giving him a questioning glance as he withdrew his pocket watch and brought it out to glisten within the soft rays of the full moon above.

Smiling, he then removed himself from his comrade's comforting embrace and hurled the time piece out and into the wharf, a light-hearted whistle escaping his lips as he then turned and continued on his merry way as if nothing had ever happened in the first place.

Katerina smiled warmly. Something deep inside told her that he was going to be alright, after all.

**THE IMPORTANT NOTE:**

First of all, I am **retiring**, as many of you already know, so please, please, PLEASE leave reviews to make my retirement a good one!!! I've often felt that I should just abandon all my unfinished work since no one really seems to read them, anymore, but I felt that I was being selfish, so I AM willing to finish, but only if you let me know how I'm doing along the way! Thanks! Now for the MAIN note, lol:

As you may have noticed, this chapter was based on an actual episode in the series. I had decided long ago that I would rewrite the series by showing how Katerina would change everything, but don't worry, I will **NOT** make it word-for-word or exactly like it is in the series. In fact, this chapter is probably the closest to the series that it ever will get. Please tell me if there are any characters from the episodes that you'd like to see brought up, again! I personally liked VT a lot, so I think I'll bring her back in sometime. Secondly, the pairings **have** already been decided based on your votes and my own personal perception. What was reflected in this chapter may make you think that Kat will end up with Jet, but hmm, WILL she? Or will she be with Spike? Or will HE be with Faye? Hmmm. The whole point is that I'm trying to string you along and keep you guessing the whole way, so basically my goal is to keep you clueless until the very end. My warning to you is that the ending WILL be bittersweet like in the actual series, so don't be expecting fluffy clouds and fuzzy pink bunnies; that's just NOT going to happen. I, personally, suck at writing happy endings and I truly don't want to strip Bebop of its mind-blowingly sad mood-set at the end, so the mood will stay. I think you'll like the ending, though…..at least I do. :) Stay tuned for the next chapter! I'm skipping the whole Toys in the Attic dealie and going on to Jupiter Jazz, which is going to be SO much fun to write, btw. X-D Thanks for everything and please, please review! It's what makes me keep writing!!!!!!!

-Kendra Luehr


	4. Wilting Roses: Part 1

**A/N: **Hello, hello! :) So glad to be back! I can't thank you enough for the reviews, so…well…thanks, anyway!!! Again, like last time, there is an **IMPORTANT** note at the end of the fic, so please read it!!!

-FLASHBACKS ARE IN ITALICS-

Trembling, hold me now

I'm torn between silence and violent expression  
tired of believing everyone wants to care  
and cherish someone I'm so scared of never having anyone

Haunted by my abandoned dreams  
Tiny voices where would be screams

Now be still, it won't be long

We will be together in search of a new life  
Striving as one in this world to find something pure  
I'm missing you now  
I'm quite sure  
That I've finally found someone

-"Trembling": Yellowcard

**CH 4: Wilting Roses: Part 1**

"I'll have a Bloody Mary, please."

The shady bartender nodded, then almost immediately placed the alcohol down before Katerina's spot, her violet irises shimmering with unshed tears as her thoughts suddenly drifted back to the bar incident with Asimov.

She knew deep-down that she had to quit being such a downer and just let it all go, and yet...she couldn't. Being on the run for nearly two years with the man would most certainly do that to her, she supposed, but that still did not change the fact that she always wished that she could wave her hand and make all of the ugly parts of her life disappear. The petty crime, the booze and incessant addictions, the regrets...it was all just too much.

In fact, nearly three hours ago Katerina had made 'amends' with the Bebop crew by leaving a note of apology and thanks that begged them not to come looking for her. After all, she obviously didn't belong, so, in the long run, she figured that she was doing them all a favor.

Her use of transportation had been Faye's Red Tail, which she had 'borrowed' since she had been getting into the habit of pillaging crew mates' zip crafts as of late. By now, however, she felt absolutely no regrets, so it wasn't giving her the headache that it had an hour before.

Taking a dainty sip of her Bloody Mary, Katerina couldn't help but feel as if she were being watched. Slowly turning and glancing over her shoulder, she gasped upon seeing a tall, laid-back looking young man in about his late twenties. Strapped about his shoulder was a large brass saxophone that was positioned protectively beneath his arm as if it were more precious than gold; it was quite clear that this was his most prized possession. What startled her about him the most, however, were his eyes. They were so blue......so _sad._

"Are you here alone?," he asked, the question so sudden that Katerina couldn't help but be completely thrown off.

"Who, me?," she squeaked, re-gathering her bearings as soon as her body would allow. "I, um....yes. I am, actually. I'm a newcomer here, so I decided to come around and see if there were any friendly faces. Um...you were really good tonight. On your saxophone, I mean."

He chuckled softly. "Thank you very much, Miss, but I could have easily told anybody that you were from out of town without my even asking. Didn't you notice that there aren't any women here on Callisto?"

Katerina's eyes widened in acknowledgement, then she suddenly laughed. "Oh, my, so there aren't!," she agreed, laughing once more at her own blatant lack of observation. "I'm afraid that I haven't been paying very much attention to my surroundings, lately. It's a very bad habit that I've somehow managed to obtain over the years."

"That habit of yours could very well get you killed, one day," the young man insisted, his tone now completely somnolent. "In Callisto, one must be _very_ cautious."

"Why?," Katerina demanded, truly not seeing the need.

The young man didn't answer, his deep blue eyes burning into her own violet ones until she could no longer stand the rawness of their contact. Immediately breaking their gaze, she shot up from the barstool with a rather panicky demeanor emanating from her rigid facade, hurriedly slamming down some hard-earned woolongs onto the table before grabbing her purse and turning to make her leave. "I-I've got to go," she stammered, not even bothering to look her newfound acquaintance in the eye. "If I don't hurry, I may not be able to find a place for the night."

The young man merely nodded in return. "Take care, Miss...and be careful."

Katerina mumbled a hushed "thank you", then hurriedly dashed off in search of the nearest exit, her frazzled mind suddenly realizing as to why the young man had appeared so dreadfully familiar. He was the man that had killed her parents when they had gone to Titan!

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_"Honey, could you please carry my new pot? It's a tad too heavy for me."_

_Katerina laughed as Mr. Muscovitz grudgingly squatted down so that his arms were now wrapped securely about the large work of art, his face twisting into an immediate scowl once he felt his knee crack due to the excessive weight. Welp, so much for the surgical replacement._

_Smiling in spite of the rather painful impediment, Mr. Muscovitz righted himself into a standing position so that the vase was now positioned snugly before his waist, his wife warmly interlocking her arm in his before he questioned anxiously, "Will we be able to go to the Lunar Museum, now? The main exhibit closes in fifteen minutes!"_

_Mrs. Muscovitz sighed, then shook her head. "We could, but the place is ten block away, Miles! We'll never make it by foot at this rate!"_

_Katerina and Mr. Muscovitz both pouted, yet this did absolutely nothing to better their situation._

_Beginning to lead her disgruntled family towards the local Titanian glass-blowing shop that she had just spotted, Mrs. Muscovitz continued in a rather tired, condescending tone, "Besides, mi amor, you know _**_very_**_ well that a war is going on nearby. I don't want to be anywhere near the fighting and subject out daughter to some traumatizing experience. The museum is only five miles away from the Titan war base!"_

_"What ridiculous location planning!," Mr. Muscovitz muttered, trying his best not to reveal his tremendous disappointment in front of his daughter._

_"Yes, I couldn't agree more," Mrs. Muscovitz acknowledged, nodding before giving Katerina's hair a gentle stroke. "The only reason that I even allowed you to convince me to come here for our family vacation was the fact that there are hundreds of men guarding the town border. Without them, we'd be-"_

_"What's that?!," Katerina suddenly demanded, wailing as she clapped her hands over her ears due to the tremendously loud siren that was echoing throughout the large town like a frightful omen._

_"Oh, my God!," Mr. Muscovitz exclaimed, taking his wife by the arm, "It's the military's warning siren! We're under attack!"_

_Sure enough, men, women and children, alike began screaming and frantically racing about with the sole hopes of finding refuge in time, the foreboding sounds of ammunition and war cries rumbling in the distance as the enemy soldiers drew nearer and nearer._

_"Quick...leave the pot!," Mrs. Muscovitz urged, spinning frantically around so that she could assist her husband in placing the large object down onto the ground. _

_Once it was well out of the way, Mr. Muscovitz took his wife by the arms and pulled her close, demanding frantically, "What are we going to do, now, Lillian?! We don't even _**_know_**_ this God-awful town....how the hell are we going to find a good place to hide?!"_

_"I know!," Katerina suddenly revealed, racing over towards a nearby alleyway before anyone could even stop her. "Quick! Follow me!"_

_"Katerina!!!," Mrs. Muscovitz exclaimed, watching on in absolute horror as her daughter weaved throughout the tremendous crowd and out of their sight. "Oh, Miles...where did she go?!!"_

_"I'm over here!," Katerina shouted, but to no avail. The malicious pushing and shouting of the townspeople was far too much for her soft and petite voice to overcome._

_Just as she was about to return to the safety of her parents, however, an elderly commoner seized her gruffly by the arm and began to drag her onward, insisting frantically, "Lansakes, child, you should've been in a safe house by now! What are ya still doin' out here?!"_

_"B-but my momma and papa..."_

_"I'm sure they's already found refuge by this point," the elderly woman interjected with slight agitation, giving the poor child a rough tug on the arm as a rather painful stimulus to keep moving. "C'mon, girl!," she urged, "Quit stallin'! My bomb shelter's 'bout five minutes away, so we've gotta hurry!"_

_Katerina angrily stamped her foot. "NO! I don't _**_want_**_ to go with you! Let me go....let me GO!"_

_The old woman frowned deeply, thus causing her abundant wrinkles to fold one over the other, her beady black eyes fiery and full of utter contempt as she squawked, "FINE! Get lost, you ungrateful little brat! When you're shot and dead, don't be expectin' _**_me_**_ to attend your memorial service!!!"_

_Bursting into tears, Katerina immediately turned and fled in the opposite direction to as far away from that crazy old woman as she could possibly get, her heart beating against her chest like a boxing glove and leaving her gasping for breath as she frantically searched high and low for her parents._

_BANG! BANG! BANG!_

_Screaming, Katerina dove behind the shelter of a nearby building and cautiously peered out and over its siding, warm tears spilling down along her soft cheeks once she spotted several masked men massacring the innocent civilians of Titan with their pernicious scimitars and AK-47's. Where were the Titanian soldiers to save them?!_

_Suddenly recognizing her mother's soft, feminine voice from somewhere within the crowd, Katerina foolishly abandoned her hiding place and raced out into the bloody chaos that was tragically unfolding before her, the sound of bullets whizzing overhead and blood-curdling screams filling her senses to the point of near suffocation._

_BANG! BANG! BANG!_

_Gasping, Katerina suddenly noticed two familiar figures in the distance, her heart racing as she forced her long legs to run as quickly and as hard as humanly possible. She had to get there....she _**_had_**_ to!_

_"Mama...papa!," she exclaimed, instantly coming to realize that they were lying face-down in the dirt. "Mama...p-"_

_Screaming, Katerina found that she had suddenly been intercepted about the middle by a brave Titanian soldier, hot tears streaming down along her cheeks as she desperately tried to kick herself free of the man's firm embrace, but to no avail._

_Sobbing and reaching out towards the lifeless bodies of her parents with her outstretched hands, it was then that Katerina noticed the young man standing solemnly over their corpses, his eyes immediately meeting with her shimmering violet ones as if through some unknown magnetic force._

_His eyes; they were so blue......so _**_sad_**

_000000000000000000000000000_

Screaming, Katerina suddenly shot up in bed, her svelte flesh damp with sweat while her body trembled like a leaf caught in an updraft, her heart practically beating out of her chest as she brought a hand up to her face and placed it shakily over her eyes.

Gren Eckener...that had been his name. His identification tags had been found on her parents' corpses as what she assumed to be his sick little way of bragging. After all, it was just SO impressive as to how he had managed to single-handedly destroy a loving family and leave her as a sniveling orphan.

Sliding dazedly out of bed, it was then that Katerina decided that she needed a long, stiff drink, no matter what the hour. With a heavy heart, she opened the hotel door and slipped out into the night, truly not caring as to how wasted she would most definitely become.

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"So did he go out to find her?"

"That's just it....I don't know," Jet solemnly revealed, his sky blue eyes soft and terribly dreary as he continued to chain smoke amidst the comfort of the commons. "There's apparently another woman...someone named Julia......"

Faye visibly stiffened, yet somehow miraculously managed to relax before her reaction could be taken note of. Leaning back against the cold metal wall, she questioned innocently, "Well who's that? Someone who owes him money?"

Jet chuckled. "Not everyone we meet owes us money, Faye. I honestly can't tell ya what this woman is doing here or who she is, but all I know for sure is that she has some sort of hold over Spike."

"I see," Faye mumbled, bowing her head forward before folding her arms neatly beneath her breasts. "What about Kat? You're not actually going to go after her, are you?"

Jet scowled. "I think you know the answer to that, Faye. Ever since she's arrived we've actually been able to live in a clean, comfortable and well-fed atmosphere. I'm not about to give that up just because you and Spike went out on a limb to make her feel unwelcome."

"Hmph...I did _no_ such thing," Faye snarled, turning so that she was now facing the opposite direction. "Since you find her to be so damned valuable, why don't you just go ahead and leave, already? I mean, it's quite obvious that you like her, so go on, Romeo...find your precious Juliet."

"CAN IT!!!," Jet growled, instantly slamming his counterfeit fist down onto the metal table so hard that loose papers on bounties began to scatter about before slowly floating down and to the floor. His cheeks now a comical shade of bright pink due to his tremendous embarrassment, he continued in a gruff and burly tone, "This is _my_ ship, so therefore I automatically expect you to treat me and your fellow crew mates with some respect! If you can't follow this rule, you can leave!"

"Fine," Faye agreed, more than happy to oblige, "you all seriously give me a migraine the size of Neptune, so your proposition is honestly a welcome one. Ready my ship and I'll be out of what little hair you have left in about a half an hour."

Jet smirked in triumph. "Well that's just it, Faye...it seems that Katerina has 'borrowed' the Red Tail."

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"Excuse me...have you heard the name Julia mentioned, by chance?"

The young man whom had been addressed suddenly stopped shoveling snow, then nodded. "I hear a lot of things, " he began, "and the name Julia is most certainly no exception. From what I hear, she is SO hot."

Spike sighed in utter frustration. "I _know_ what she looks like...what I _want_ to know is where she is!"

"Sorry, can't help ya," the young man insisted, carelessly shrugging his broad shoulders in a terribly nonchalant manner. "All I've heard are rumors 'bout a blonde succubus named Julia that eats everyone's children. That, and she's a real sleazy wench."

Spike drooped. "Hrm...thanks for your help."

Apparently, he realized, searching for his long-lost lover was going to be a lot harder than originally anticipated.

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"Madam, your appearance is rather harmful to the eyes."

Katerina grimaced. "Get lost, creeps...all I want is to get drunk off my ass at the nearest bar. Is _that_ such a crime?"

The henchman chuckled, then shook his head, returning smugly, "That may very well be, lady, but you just happened to pick the wrong place and time."

"Is that a threat?," Katerina seethed, her fingers just itching to retrieve her firearm from within her thigh holster. "I don't respond too well to threats, you know."

The henchman snorted. "Take it however you'd like...I'm starting to get rather bored with your tiring shenanigans. Get 'er, boys!"

Remaining strong, Katerina miraculously managed to swerve out of the way of one of the oncoming lackeys and nail him directly in the ass with her high-heeled shoe, his absolute surprise quite clear as he let out a cry of utter outrage and sailed straight into the brick siding of the neighboring building.

Spinning around with a smug smirk upon her face, Katerina then prepared to intercept the main henchman, only to be instantly thwarted the moment that a tall, familiar figure jumped in-between them and struck the thug directly across the chin with his large black saxophone case.

_Gren._

"Hurry!," he urged, seizing her by the wrist and dragging her partially unwilling being down along a nearby alleyway, her eyes widening once she moved to avoid the planks of wood that her newfound comrade suddenly knocked down in order to deter their enemies from following them.

"Where are you taking me?!," Katerina instantly demanded, not about to forget who he was. "They're gone...let me go!"

"You won't be safe until we're back at my place," Gren insisted, hurriedly rounding another block. "Just stay close to me and everything will be alright."

Katerina scowled. "Don't you _dare_ lie to me, Gren Eckener! I know who you are and I _know_ what you did!"

He immediately pulled to a halt, his surprised comrade crashing abruptly into his backside before removing her hand from his taut grasp within a moment of sheer disgust. She did not wish to be touched; especially by the one man whom had single-handedly murdered her parents.

Not even bothering to turn around, Gren questioned softly, "Are you a bounty huntress? Is that how you know who I am?"

"Oh, how I wish that were the case," Katerina returned crisply, her eyes narrowing as she took a slight step forward and placed her hands neatly upon her hips. "You're going to take me to your apartment as originally planned, and then we're going to have a _nice_ little chat. I, for one, want my long-harbored questions to finally be answered."

Gren nodded solemnly. He never denied a woman's request.

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Gren's apartment sure wasn't Buckingham Palace, yet it was simple and very tasteful.

When Katerina moved to hang her winter coat upon the coat rack on the wall, she couldn't help but smile upon spotting the old piano in the corner.

"You play?," Gren asked, noticing her sudden interest.

Katerina sighed, then nodded. "Used to, is more like it. You see, when I was forced to move in with my cousin, Jamie, she wouldn't allow me to bring along my grand piano from my home in vintage New York."

"And why is that?," Gren questioned, genuinely interested. "Wasn't she a music lover?"

Katerina snorted. "She loved music as much as the next red-blooded Earthling. The true problem was the mere fact that it had belonged to my parents before they gave it to me, so Jamie was far too grief-stricken to even look at it. It's all your fault, you know."

Gren raised an eyebrow. "I beg your pardon?"

_"You_ were the one that killed my parents!," Katerina screamed, hot tears threatening to escape her ebony lashes as she pointed a shaking finger towards him and choked on a sob. "I found your identification tags on their bodies...I _saw_ you standing over them, Gren, so don't you _dare_ deny it! I was only thirteen years old when I was forced to live in a damned orphanage until I was finally able to have a home, again!"

Gren didn't move. "I did _not_ kill your parents," he returned simply, much to her utter chagrin. "I was trying to save their lives."

_"Bull shit!"_

"They were dying," he continued, completely undaunted by her brash remark. "There was nothing I could do for them."

Katerina opened her mouth to reply, then immediately closed it. Collapsing down onto the yellow couch in front of him, she couldn't help but cry into her awaiting hands, her shoulders heaving violently along with her sobs as she managed to question meekly in return, "Why are you tormenting me, Gren? What did I ever do to deserve such torture?! All I want to know is _why_ you betrayed your country and took my mama and papa away from me!"

"I did _not_ betray my country...I will be forever true to Titan," Gren returned in a surprisingly soft and soothing tone. "If you let me explain my past to you, perhaps you will finally come to realize that I would never commit such a heinous crime."

Katerina raised her tear-stained face up from her hands, then nodded. "I-I'm listening."

Gren smiled, then nodded his thanks in return, gradually reaching out and slipping his hand over hers before grasping it tightly as a sign of comfort.

_"Gren...where are you?"_

He stiffened.

His comm. link......

_"I'm out with honroutou along with the mang and the reverse dragon,"_ the cold, clipped voice continued. _"It's 32,000...I'll be waiting."_

_Click._

Katerina immediately spring into action and retrieved the firearm from within her thigh holster, her eyes fiery and full of red-blooded accusation as she questioned dryly, "More illegal activities, I presume? What _don't_ you do, you sick sonofabitch?"

"Perhaps if you'll let me explain, it will be worth the wait," Gren insisted, still managing to wear the same smug smile that always adorned his face.

Katerina immediately shook her head. "Oh, no," she argued, slowly pulling back on the trigger, "I've given you _more_ than enough time, already."

**THE OTHER IMPORTANT NOTE:**

Okay, as you all know, this fic is rated R, and it is done so for a reason. In the very near future (possibly only two more chapters to go) there will be a lemon. I find that it may be along the NC-17ish range, so I may decide to post the lemon portion on If you think this is a good idea, please tell me, cuz I've already made the mistake of putting something like that on here, before! There will be 2 or more lemons in this fic (one for each pairing, so that everyone's happy), and couples will be decided accordingly. As for what just happened up there in my fic, I screwed with the timeline a bit (as always ) and made Gren 17 and in the war when Katerina was 13. I just thought it was a kind of cool concept; perhaps unbelievable, but good enough for fiction, right???? LoL But anyways, I'll try my best to post the next chapter ASAP! Thanks for all your support! PLEASE leave a review!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Kendra Luehr


	5. Wilting Roses: Part 2

**A/N: Hey! ::takes a deep breath:: WOW, this took forever and a day to write, so I truly hope that you reward me with a REVIEW! ::hint hint nudge nudge:: heehee I really enjoyed writing this chapter, so I truly hope that you'll enjoy reading it just as much! Love ya bunches! ,**

**CH 5: Wilting Roses Part 2**

"And what exactly do you hope to accomplish by killing me?"

Katerina frowned, her index finger perched precariously over the trigger. "I think you know the answer to that, Gren," she returned coolly, never removing her fixated gaze from her completely un-phased target. "You're a criminal and, quite frankly, I think that I'd be doing the universe a whole lot of good by wiping your existence from the face of this Godforsaken planet."

Gren smiled, then nodded. "How humanitarian of you! And just think, I don't even know the name of my soon-to-be murderess."

Katerina lowered her weapon only for a moment, then immediately returned it to its rightful position. If he thought that he would manipulate her by means of guilt, he had another think coming!

"Don't say another word," she warned, taking a cautious step forward. "I, Katerina Muscovitz, am in charge here....does _that_ answer your question?"

Gren nodded. "Indeed, it does."

"Good...I want you to come with me to the ISSP," she continued, taking yet another step forward before roughly seizing him by the lapels of his button-down shirt. "Soon, Gren Eckener, everyone will know what a creep you are! A drug dealer...a crook...a _murderer!"_

He smirked, then shrugged his broad shoulders in resignation. "Would it help matters any if I said that I had no choice? Perhaps we can argue about this further over a nice shot of whiskey?"

"What are you trying to pull?! As far as I'm concerned, you're just trying to stall time!," Katerina spat, now only mere inches away from his face.

Gren closed his eyes and let out a small chuckle, conceding softly, "You're quite a woman, Miss Muscovitz...even more beautiful than those many years ago when I saw your tear-stained face gazing back dejectedly at my guilt-ridden soul. If there's one thing that you're going to believe tonight, please believe this: I did _not_ kill your parents. I would never dream of hurting you, Katerina."

"Then why...?"

She paused, disconsolately allowing her firearm to slip forth from her grasp and down to the hardwood floor with a subtle clatter. Glancing back up at him with glistening violet irises, she continued in a shaky, yet resolute voice, "Gren, I...I think I'm ready for that drink right about now."

He smiled, then nodded. "Of course, Miss Muscovitz...just give me a second and I'll be right back."

Katerina turned to watch him leave, then unsteadily found herself staggering over to a nearby couch before gracelessly flopping down upon it. Burying her face within the sanction of her hands, she then curled herself up into the fetal position, allowing her lush chocolate-brown locks to fall across her forlorn facade like a curtain as an impenetrable aegis to all the world. If there was anything that she wanted at that very moment, it was to be hidden.

"Katerina?"

Making a pitiful noise from the back of her throat, she then sluggishly forced herself to sit up. Standing there before her was Gren, a warm smile upon his lips as he positioned the tray of whiskey directly before her.

"I figured that this is what you'd want...please help yourself," he urged, his smile only intensifying once his unstable guest shakily reached out and took one of the glasses from the tray.

"Thank you," Katerina mumbled, throwing her head back and downing the strong alcohol in one swig, the clear liquid creating a deliciously intoxicating burning sensation within her throat as she leaned back against the couch and sighed. "Aren't you going to sit down and stay a while, Mr. Eckener?"

Gren smirked at her joke, then set the tray down upon the coffee table before taking a glass of his own. "Of course," he acknowledged, raising his glass in a mock toast before downing it nearly as quickly as Katerina had, his mind slightly muddled as he sat himself down upon the chair opposite his guest.

"So do you always take in strangers like this?," Katerina suddenly questioned, her forefinger absently tracing the rim of her shot glass as she sent her comrade a rather amused glance. "After all, I wouldn't exactly say that we're exactly on the best of terms."

Gren smirked, then bowed his head in agreement. "Let's just say that I only take in the interesting ones," he decided aloud after a moment, pouring himself another drink. "Want some more?" Katerina declined, so he continued earnestly, "You're truly one of the most interesting people that I've met in a long time....I don't know why, but I'm drawn to you."

Katerina couldn't help but laugh at that. "Well what can I say? The men just seem to fall at my feet," she teased, thus eliciting a warm smile from her comrade's lips.

"There's no doubt," he agreed, causing her to send him a curious glance.

"Why, Mr. Eckener...are you coming onto me?," Katerina demanded, batting her lashes in mock flirtation.

Gren smiled, then immediately shook his head, acknowledging softly, "On the contrary...I'm just mulling over the last few precious moments in life that I have left to live. Might as well make a beautiful woman feel better about herself in the process."

"What do you mean?!," Katerina squeaked, her grip tightening considerably about her shot glass to the point that she feared that it might break.

Gren smiled yet again, then shrugged before glancing up at the ceiling as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. "I've poisoned myself," he admitted, letting out a deep sigh before redirecting his gaze back towards his absolutely stunned comrade's. "I slipped some arsenic into my drink while I was in the kitchen because sooner or later I knew that I had to escape this madness. Vicious would just keep hunting me for the damned Red Eye and for the sole fact that I had feelings for Jul-"

"Who's Vicious?," Katerina interrupted, now directly on her feet. "Better yet, _don't_ answer that...we've got to get you to a hospital!"

Gren immediately shook his head. "No...even if I wanted to, I'd be long dead before we ever made it there. Just take me to see Vicious...one last time."

"What?! I-"

_"Please,"_ he begged, his voice laden with a desperateness that touched his comrade deeply.

Sighing in resignation, Katerina nodded, then empathetically touched his shoulder. "Come on...show me the way."

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Bored and about to go completely out of her mind with wondering as to where the hell her fellow partners had gone off to, Faye continued to absently meander down along the restricted corridors of the Bebop, her mind anywhere but there as she soon found herself questioning why she even bothered having partners to begin with.

In the long run, they all seemed to run off and do whatever the hell they felt like, so what good did that do her? She longed for security and a firm, solid place to belong to, and the Bebop was most definitely the exact antithesis of her seemingly insatiable needs. So _why_, exactly did she stay? Oh, how she wished she knew.

Jet was annoying and so was the kid, the dog was just...there, Katerina was tolerable at times, and Spike...well, what about him? The man was an enigma within a damned enigma, it seemed, so she figured that it would do her no good to try and figure him out. She truly hated brain teasers, anyway, and Spike was surely the biggest one of all the universe.

Lighting a cigarette before leaning up against the wall, Faye exhaled a disgusted sigh filled with ribbons of smoke once she spotted Edward gamboling down along the hallway towards her at a ridiculously super-human speed. Good God, what kind of batteries did that kid run on?

"Faye-Faye! Faye-Faye!," the redhead exclaimed breathlessly upon spotting the older woman, "Lookie-lookie at what Ed found!"

Rolling her eyes and deciding to humor the child, Faye then leaned over in order to see what she had, only to gasp in utter astonishment at what she saw. "Spike's journal? Where did you get that?!," she demanded, seizing it from the stunned adolescent's grasp within a moment of absolute disbelief.

Edward blinked, then glanced down at her hands that had only moments before contained the lunkhead's most personal thoughts and confessions. "Give that back to Ed!," she begged, her brow furrowing slightly as she glared back up at her older comrade. "Ed found it first, Faye-Faye! No fair!"

"I know that, kid, but this wasn't meant for your eyes...mine, either, for that matter," Faye insisted, now in slight shock over the fact that she was actually protecting the lunkhead's privacy. "What I want for you to do is go and play with the dog, or something...I'm pretty sure that he's awful lonely since Jet's out looking for Kat."

Edward suddenly appeared to be rather sad, acknowledging softly, "Ed really misses Kit-Kat and Spike-person....they _are_ coming back, aren't they?"

"Of course," Faye insisted, truly not knowing whom she needed to convince more; Edward or herself. "They'll be back before you know it, and it's been scientifically proven that time goes by a lot faster for those that actually do something while waiting, so quick....go find Ein!"

"Oh, boy, oh, yay, Ed will go and play, hooray!," the redhead chortled erratically in response, leaping up into the air before making a mad dash for the commons.

Shaking her head with slight amusement, Faye smiled, then immediately remembered why she had tried to get rid of Edward so quickly in the first place.

_Spike's journal._

Glancing down at the worn, leather-bound cover, she couldn't help but smirk as a sudden thought wedged its way within the cramped-up corners of her mind:

_'To read or not to read? That is the question...'_

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"Are you sure that it was _this_ woman?," Jet demanded, impatiently tapping the photograph that he had placed down upon the bar table.

Regarding him with a brief glance, the bartender tended back to mopping the floor, then nodded. "Yeah...it's been about six months since I've last seen a woman in the flesh, and _two_ years since I've seen one that good-looking. Trust me, pal, I wouldn't make a mistake like that!"

"Man, I sure wouldn't wanna live around here," Jet commented more to himself than to the other man, casting his gaze heavenward before he realized that the bartender was talking again.

"She sat over there, talking to Gren," he revealed, diligently mopping a certain spot on the floor before pausing to wipe his brow. "Julia used to sit in that same seat."

"Julia?," Jet reiterated, absolutely astounded that his comrade's old lover's name had appeared more than once in the same day.

The bartender nodded. "Yeah...about two years ago she wandered in out of the blue, then a month later she went off and just disappeared."

"Yeah?," Jet questioned, leaning forward with a new type of interest. "What kind of a girl was she, anyway?"

The bartender suddenly stopped mopping, a faint smile now upon his lips as he returned wistfully, "She was a _real_ woman."

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_These past few days have been so confusing for me...a feeling has awoken within my soul that takes me back to days that were better; to days that were with her. I hate myself right now, fore I've allowed the unthinkable to happen: I've been developing slight feelings for one of my fellow comrades as of late. It's wrong, I know, but every time I see her, I just...freeze. She's so much like Julia that it hurts just to be around her, so what should I do? Run away from all my fucking problems like before? Yeah...that would be like me, wouldn't it? I don't even deserve this girl; I'm a coward. I'm almost tempted to get down on my knees and pray for guidance, but I'm not that desperate for help._

_-Spike_

Faye continued to gaze down upon her comrade's journal entry in utter astonishment, her heart filled with a tremendous excitement once she realized that Spike had feelings for someone onboard the Bebop.

Could it be _her?_ No...it had to be Katerina. She was not only beautiful, but very talented, as well. She could cook, clean, don socks...heck, she could do _all_ of the womanly chores that Faye had never really applied herself to learning.

The whole truth of the matter was that Faye never liked to feel tied down, so even attempting to do all of the tasks that Katerina daily performed most certainly clipped her wings and prevented her from having her desired freedom. Besides, her breasts would probably get in the way somehow; they _always_ got in the way.

"Faye?"

She looked up in utter astonishment, only to find her bald-headed comrade leaning solemnly against her doorway.

"Jet!," she exclaimed, suddenly alarmed, "What's happened?! Is Spike ok?!"

"How the hell should _I_ know?," he groused, wiping the sweat from his brow before sending her a dirty look. "That troublesome prick's off somewhere that even _I_ don't know, and now that I've checked out the blue apartment complex that Katerina was supposedly inside of, I've given up all hope. She...she wasn't there, and neither was Gren."

Faye blanched. _"Who?"_

"He apparently knows something about Julia and Vicious," Jet continued, a far-off look glazing over his pale blue eyes as he took off his coat and hat and folded them under one arm. "As for Katerina, I guess that she's wherever Gren is......or at least that's what the bartender told me."

Faye suddenly smirked, causing her comrade to give her a funny look.

"What the hell are you looking at me like that for?"

She shrugged. "Ooh, nothing, really...I've just got my reasons, is all."

With a bemused expression upon his face, Jet shook his head as he turned to leave, all the while praying that Spike and Katerina were safe from harm.

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"They're not here," Katerina concluded, warily surveying the rooftop that she and Gren had recently landed upon. "I thought you said that you were selling Red Eye to Vicious....you didn't lie to me _again,_ did you?"

Gren smiled weakly; the poison was working a lot faster than he had originally anticipated.

Boosting himself up so that he could crawl out from behind the one-man pilot seat that Katerina was currently occupying, he then hopped out of the zip craft's cockpit and motioned for her to follow.

"I don't bite," he assured her upon noticing her distrusting face, holding out his arms so that he could help his comrade down and to the ground.

Completely ignoring his assistance, altogether, Katerina leapt out of the seat of the pod-like craft and to her feet with the grace of a cat, her gaze hard and accusing as she spat out venomously in response, "Keep your friendly hands to yourself, Mr. Eckener! You haven't even told me whether or not this is a wild good chase, so why should I even trust you with the simple task of helping me out of your zip craft?!"

"Touche'," Gren agreed, bestowing her with a humble bow before grasping onto the hull of his ship to prevent himself from toppling over.

Immediately taking note of this, Katerina frantically rushed over to his side and forced him to place his left arm about her neck, her arms slipping about his slender waist in order to support him before she whispered spitefully into his ear, "You _do_ realize that I'm only helping you because you're dying, right?"

Gren smirked. "Of course...why _else_ would you be so considerate towards me, Katerina? I _am,_ after all, the one that killed your parents......_remember?"_

She stiffened. "Don't push me, Gren...I _could_ just load your sorry rear back onto the zip craft and prevent you from seeing your little friend, you know."

"But you won't...you're just as eager to see him as I am," he insisted, daringly reaching out and touching a lock of her soft, lush brown hair. "I see it in your eyes, Katerina, and yet it's completely understandable. _Every_one longs to uncover the mystery of Vicious."

Katerina couldn't help but gasp at that last statement; she was now truly afraid. Was there any truth to his name, or was it all just some ridiculous cover-up to strike fear into the hearts of those that opposed him?

Whatever it was, she couldn't help but pray that Gren wasn't killed by this man. Although he was already well on his way to pushing up daisies, she much preferred to see the young man die of his own hand opposed to someone else's. That, at least, provided a little bit of dignity.

Reaching up and grasping Gren's invading hand within her own, Katerina managed to bestow him with a small smile, her heart heavy as she demanded fearfully, "Why do you want to see Vicious before you die, Gren? Is it _that_ important?"

He nodded solemnly. "You may not understand it, Katerina, but as long as my burning questions go unanswered I will die a very unhappy man."

"Gren..."

He stepped away from her, his blue eyes practically burning holes into her violet ones as he turned and unsteadily began to hobble forward. "Vicious," he called, his voice echoing dully amidst the cool Jupiter breeze, "are you here? I'm waiting for you! Come and get me!"

In response to his shouts, a flock of crows scuttled over to the edge of the building and frantically took off, a massive cloud of black dissipating off into the horizon before a hazy figure suddenly appeared out from behind the completely oblivious couple.

"I am here, Gren," the figure remarked coolly, Katerina crying out upon seeing the silvery-haired phantasm before them, a young Asian man with piercing green eyes obediently at his side like a well-trained puppy.

"Vicious," Gren returned darkly, a look of pain and bewilderment glinting across his cerulean blue orbs as he regarded his old comrade with a subtle nod of the head. "You sold me down the river back on Titan and....and I want to know why."

The silvery-haired man merely smirked in return, adoringly caressing the hilt of his katana before revealing coldly, "Why, in order to do that, my dear Gren, I'm afraid that I would have to kill you."

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_BOOM!_

Spike gasped, his two-toned eyes widening in utter astonishment upon spotting a cloud of billowing smoke emanating forth from the rooftop of a neighboring building.

Frantically discarding his cigarette off to the side and into a shallow snow bank, he hoisted himself up into the cockpit of the Swordfish II and prepared for take-off.

As much as he hated to admit it, his search for Julia would have to wait; there were far more serious problems ahead.

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_"GET DOWN!!!"_

Shrieking, Katerina dove off and to the side before hiding behind the safety of a nearby smoke stack, yet another bomb going off and sending debris flying every which way as she covered her head and got down low to the ground.

Sending Gren a grateful glance for the well-needed warning, she then retrieved her firearm from within her thigh-holster and leveled it out toward the unfolding battle site before her.

Whatever was going to happen, she was determined not to let Gren go through with it alone.

"We fought that bloody war together....we were _comrades,"_ Gren suddenly choked out, his brows knitting tightly together into a pained expression as he kept his firearm trained firmly on Vicious' skull. "We risked everything out there on Titan. I looked up to you...I _believed_ in you."

Vicious stiffened. "There is _nothing_ to believe in...surely even _you_ know that."

His gaze hardening due to feeling the impact of his comrade's spoken betrayal like a knife through the heart, Gren pulled back on the trigger and fired three rounds into the air, praying with all his might that they would hit their mark.

Vicious easily evaded the shots with the stealth and agility that he naturally possessed, but the fourth shot completely caught him off-guard.

"Vicious-sama..._look out!!!,"_ his young Asian accomplice exclaimed, immediately throwing himself in front of his mentor without even giving it a second thought.

Stiffening, Gren solemnly watched on as the bullet made its mark within the young Asian's chest, copious bursts of scarlet expelling forth from the mortal wound as the foolish man took in his final breath.

Not even the least bit moved by this act of martyrdom, Vicious glanced up towards an oncoming zip craft, his steely eyes narrowing with recognition.

_Spike..._

Deciding that it was well time to go, Gren beckoned to Katerina urging, "Quickly! Go find someplace safe to take cover....I'll need to settle my differences in the air!"

Nodding, she uneasily parted from his side and wedged herself in-between two smoke stacks, her violet irises twinkling with fear as she watched Vicious and her comrade each board their own zip crafts and prepare for take-off.

Shielding her face against the gusts of wind that were now buffeting her entire body, Katerina glanced back up in order to find both men airborne, a newcomer raining ammunition down upon Vicious' zip craft without even the slightest hint of mercy.

"Spike!," she exclaimed, absolutely disbelieving her eyes. What was _he_ doing there, and how did he know Vicious?

Spike, meanwhile, continued to irascibly pilot his zip craft, showering blast after blast of ammunition down upon his hated nemesis before taking a wide turn, shouting acidly over his shoulder, "Vicious! Lin died protecting you! His soul is lost!"

"Don't you get it?! He wasn't protecting me...he was protecting the order!," Vicious growled, pulling his craft around into a perfect 180 so that he was now hot on the Swordfish II's trail.

Grinning once he realized that victory would soon be his, he placed his thumb over the detonator for the missile cannons, only to immediately jerk forward. He had been hit!

Glaring spitefully back over his shoulder at Gren, Vicious swerved his zip craft around and began the tiresome chase of cat and mouse, his last nerve truly about to snap.

Once he had aligned Gren's small pod-like ship within his sights, he immediately slammed his fist down upon the artillery button, commenting coldly under his breath, _"You're in the way."_

Gasping, Gren felt his craft jolt forward due to the tremendous damage that his adversary's missiles had created, his head swimming due to the poison within his system and the noxious fumes that were leaking in through the cockpit as he dazedly tried to pull it together.

Coughing into his awaiting hand, he watched on miserably as Spike and Vicious continued to battle it out like two moths drawn to the flame, his eyes suddenly rolling back in his head once he limply dropped forward and collapsed upon the controls within a severe state of shock.

"GREN!!!," Katerina exclaimed, just now egressing the front entrance to the building that they had been a top only moments before, her heart pounding within her chest once she helplessly watched her comrade crash down into a shallow snow bank, the Swordfish II not far behind.

"Hey!," Spike gasped, immediately hauling himself up and out of the cockpit before dropping down heavily into the snow, "Don't die, Gren! I need for you to be alive! HEY!"

Absolutely outraged by her comrade's behavior, Katerina raced over to the site of the accident as quickly as her long legs could possibly carry her, shouting angrily, "You leave him alone, Spike Spiegel! Let him die in peace!!!"

Purposely ignoring her orders, Spike took Gren by the shoulders and roughly began to shake him, urging frantically, "Goddammit, _wake up!_ I need to find Julia...please tell me where she is!"

Upon overhearing that ominous name, Gren's eyes immediately snapped open, his blurred gaze resting upon the frenetic countenance of a young man as he tried his damndest to register what on earth had just happened to him.

_"Julia...,"_ he rasped, clutching onto Spike's arm before heaving yet another gut-busting cough into his awaiting hand. Upon pulling his arm back, however, both men came to immediately notice the splotch of blood that was now resting upon Gren's palm.

"Oh, shit! You've got an internal injury!," Spike exclaimed, frantically checking all of his pockets for his comm. link. "Oh, _shit!_ Where did I put that damned thing?!"

"Leave him alone!," Katerina begged yet again, now close enough to touch them. Dropping down and to her knees, she immediately pulled Gren into her lap and cradled his head before stroking his long, deep blue hair, tears filling her eyes as she continued breathlessly, _"Please,_ Spike...this man has already been through so much; why do you wish to prolong his agony by adding your burden to his already troubled soul?"

"He knows where Julia is...he _has_ to tell me!," Spike insisted, now seeing red as his sudden hatred towards the woman before him only mounted in its intensity. "If you don't shove off and mind your own friggin' business, Katerina, I won't be held responsible for my own actions!"

Katerina bowed her head, then nodded. "So be it, Spike...I know now that this man couldn't possibly have killed my parents, so I am completely willing to stay with him as long as he needs me; sustaining injury or not."

"Kat..."

_"Please,"_ she begged, protectively cradling Gren's head against her bosom, "leave him _alone."_

Spike gritted his teeth. What _was_ it with him and women? Were they automatically all out to get him, or did he just happen to be a walking sign that screamed, 'Hey, look! I'm a doormat! Walk all over me!'?

Stupid wench.

Before Spike could tell her off, however, Gren let out a small groan, then cast his glistening gaze up towards Katerina's tear-stained face, choking out lethargically, _"Kater...ina......I-I thought that...you should...know who k-killed your......parents."_

She gasped. "Gren! What are you saying?! Someone you know killed my parents?!"

He nodded weakly.

Briefly exchanging a shocked glance with Spike, Katerina then took Gren by the hand, giving it a gentle squeeze before urging sweetly, "Please don't tell me unless you really think that I should know, Gren. If you were the one who did it, after all, I just don't think that I could handle-"

_"No,"_ he rasped, gargling on his own words, _"i-it wasn't me, Katerina....I......I saw..."_

_"What?,"_ she pressed, quite urgent, now. "What did you see?!"

Gren closed his eyes, then groaned. _"It was...it was him, he..."_

_"WHO?!"_

_"Please,"_ he suddenly begged, weakly grasping at her wrist, _"load me back into the pod. I-I want to go to Titan......one last time."_

"Titan?!," Spike exclaimed, completely taken aback. "Even if you tried, you'd never make it there in your present condition!"

Gren smiled, a dreamy, far-off look washing over his soft features as he let out a small chuckle. _"You're right,"_ he agreed, _"but since I am to die, I at least want to die well on my way."_

"B-but my parents...," Katerina tried again, faltering once she caught the pleading look in his eyes. They were so blue...._so sad...._

Bowing her head forward, she finally decided that it could wait, her legs rubbery and unstable as she got up off of her knees in order to help Spike lift Gren up into the pod.

Smiling gratefully at the two, Gren leaned back in his pilot's chair, sighing peacefully as they strapped him into place and prepared to shut the pod.

_"This is my final voyage,"_ he announced, his warm gaze resting fondly upon Katerina. _"Thank you for making the last of my life so enjoyable."_

Katerina smiled tearfully, then took his cold, limp hand within her own. "Believe me," she insisted, "the pleasure has been _all_ mine."

Smiling in return, Gren closed his eyes and sighed as she let go of his hand and stepped back, Spike shutting the pod before a loud _'whoosh'_ of air escaped the craft once the surrounding bubble sealed up and around their comrade's rigid form.

Katerina suddenly stopped smiling, fore she knew he was dead.

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"Well that's just great, you two! You both run off and _neither_ of you can drag in Gren for his bounty?!"

"It wasn't our fault! Gren poisoned himself!," Katerina insisted, looking to Spike for help. He merely gave a helpless shrug in return, so she sighed, continuing harshly, _"Look,_ Jet, even if we _had_ caught him, I seriously don't think that I would have allowed you to turn him in. Gren was a good man with a _good_ heart."

Jet snorted. "So I see that he got to you....not a very bright idea to get affectionate with a bounty."

"I didn't even _know_ he was a bounty until it was too late!," Katerina shot back, slamming her fist down onto the coffee table in-between them within a moment of sheer rage. "You're such a prick, Jet! And here I was, actually worried of what you'd think about me for running away from my problems! _Grah,_ you're all such assholes!"

Jet blanched upon her sudden outburst, Spike merely smoking in contentment alongside him while Katerina seized her winter coat from off of the arm of the chair that she had been sitting upon and stormed out of the commons within a fit of untamed rage.

Still seething like a kettle about to burst, Katerina stalked into the main controls room, only to have her high-heels' incessant clip-clopping cease upon spotting a familiar figure curled up on the floor within the luminous glow of the stars.

"Faye?," she questioned, taking an uneasy step forward, "i-is that you?"

The vixen gave a dull nod of the head, never removing her glistening gaze from the celestial view before her. "Have a seat," she urged, thus catching her comrade completely by surprise.

Needless to say, Katerina hadn't expected such a kind gesture from her anger-prone partner.

"Thank you," she acknowledged, seating herself down onto the cold metal floor beside the violet-haired seductress. "Something bothering you? You aren't nearly as chipper as you were the last time we talked."

Faye couldn't help but smile at that. She knew it was a stab at her rather bitchy attitude as of late, yet she didn't care. She was far too wrapped up in her own personal problems to even give a damn about anyone or anything else.

"Silent tonight, are we? Well, that's ok...I'll just do all the talking," Katerina decided aloud, bestowing her comrade with a winning smile as she drew her legs up against her chest and sighed. "You know," she continued, "I truly hope that you're not mad at me for something that I'm not even aware of having done. We _are_ the only women on this ship, you know, and we women have to stick together."

Faye smirked. "Wow, the guys must've _really_ pissed you off...what'd they do this time?"

Katerina shrugged, folding her hands within her lap before gazing out at the stars. "I don't really know," she admitted, "but I think that I'm actually mad at myself. You see, I wanted to show them that I could take care of myself by running away, but that kinda back-fired, huh?"

"Yeah," Faye agreed, laughing, "if I'm not being too bold, that is."

"No...I really _did_ make a mess of things," Katerina agreed, dejectedly smoothing out the wrinkles to her burgundy-colored dress. "If anything, I think that I only further proved my weakness to the guys. I wanted them to think of me as this strong-willed woman that answers to no one and lives by her own rules, but now...well, I guess that I'll just have to remain being the dull woman that cooks and nags."

Faye smirked, announcing with mock apology, "Sorry to burst your bubble, Kat, but the full-time job of nagging has already been taken. You can fill in for the position of the sympathizing monger, however."

Katerina laughed loudly. "Agreed...as long as we play this ball game as girls versus boys from now on."

"Alright," Faye acknowledged, holding out her hand for the other woman to shake.

Katerina immediately took it within her grasp and they pleasurably sealed the deal, laughing at the whole prospect of twisting the men into doing whatever it was that they so desired.

_'Hmm,'_ Faye thought, absently twisting a lock of violet about her finger as she curiously watched her new friend from out of the corner of her eye, _'maybe having another female onboard won't be so bad, after all.'_

**A/N:** ::coughs:: Weell, don't get too excited about them 'bonding', since the very next chapter they will be right back where they started once the LEMON comes into play. I'm not sure whether I should post that part of the chapter on here, yet, since I haven't even written it yet, but we'll see. I haven't been getting many reviews, lately, so PLEASE, for the love of all that is holy, REVIEW!!!!!! Lol Thankies.


	6. Punch Drunk Love

**A/N:** It's been a while, but I'm BAAACK:) Yay! lol R&R, please!

CH 6

_"125...126...127...ugh, shit..."_

Rolling over in bed, Faye forced herself to stop counting the ceiling tiles, her mind cluttered and full of excess thoughts as she suddenly realized that she and her fellow crew mates had been drifting through space for days, now.

Luckily for her, Katerina had helped her to retain her sanity by teaching her the art of darning socks and ironing clothes. Both tasks were terribly easy, yes, but nothing that she had ever really applied herself to learn.

Although she and Katerina had somewhat bonded over the past few days, Faye still couldn't help but give in to her jealous thoughts. She and the stunning brunette were equally matched in body type and looks, she supposed, yet everything else most definitely went to the 'Jill of all trades', herself.

Couldn't she have her moment in the sun...just _once_?

"Faye?"

She froze. "Uh...yeah?"

"Dinner's ready; I made it, myself," Katerina proudly revealed, taking her comrade's acknowledgement as an invitation to enter the room. "Thanks to the bounty that Jet and Spike bagged this morning, I was finally able to make the lasagna that I've been promising!"

"Oh...well, great," Faye returned sappily, smiling as much as her weary countenance would allow. "Do you need any help with anything?"

Katerina immediately shook her head. "Don't even _think_ about moving, Faye! This is my treat to you guys for taking me in like this, so please...let _me_ do all the work!"

Faye nodded weakly. Who was she to ruin her partner's spotless record with the guys?

Finally deciding to at least _appear_ as if she had some sort of initiative, Faye then hopped off of her bed and wearily stretched her limbs up towards the heavens, announcing idly, "Well, I'm gonna go tell Spike to stop working out, now. Even if he _is_ a lunkhead, I don't think that he'd deserve to miss a decent meal for a change."

"Oh, there's no need...I already did," Katerina assured her, turning in order to exit the room. "If you really want to do something _that_ badly, however, you're more than welcome to go and tell Edward. I couldn't find that child even if I wanted to!"

Faye inwardly deflated. Jeez, what good _was_ she with this woman around, anyway? As soon as she got an idea, Katerina was already finished with it and well on her way to the next task at hand!

"Hey...are you alright?"

Faye immediately looked up. "Hm? Oh! Yeah, sorry...just thinking of where that brat could be," she assured her, forcing a weak smile before giving her comrade a forceful push. "C'mon...let's not keep the men waiting!"

Before Katerina could even protest, a loud crash erupted from outside of the Bebop, the hulky old ship jolting forward and sending both women flying out into the hallway and to the floor with a bruising 'thud'.

"Jesus Christ, what the hell was _that?",_ Faye demanded shrilly through clenched teeth, peevishly rubbing the back of her head as Katerina weakly sat up beside her.

"I don't know, but hopefully the lasagna wasn't ruined!", the brunette wailed, her heart constricting tightly within her chest at the thought of her hard work spilled carelessly all over the floor.

Faye couldn't help but smile at this. This woman truly _was_ nuts.

"Hey..._hey!_ Are you girls alright!", Jet suddenly demanded from seemingly out of nowhere, immediately rushing toward the two before stooping down and helping each one of them up in turn. Upon noticing a rather small scratch over Katerina's eye, however, he couldn't help but curse, urging hastily, "Come with me, Kat...it seems that you've got a pretty nasty little cut as a token from the hit and run."

Katerina immediately shook him off, insisting good-naturedly, "Oh, no thank you, I'm fine...wait, a hit and _run?_ You mean someone did this on purpose?"

"Not necessarily...I, personally, think that it was an accident, so no worries," Jet assured her, choosing to ignore the scornful looks that Faye was giving him out of the corner of his eye. He had no idea as to why Faye kept giving him sly glances when he was with Katerina as of late, but it was really beginning to grate on his nerves. Agitatedly clearing his throat, he continued, "Faye, I want for you and Spike to go check out the main controls to see if they're still functioning properly. If you need me, I'll be with Katerina looking for Edward."

Faye blanched in utter astonishment. "Wait..._what?_ How the hell do you expect me to work alongside that stupid lunkhead! He can't even tell which way's up!"

Jet sighed, then cast his pale blue gaze heavenward, returning dismissively, "Look, I'm sure you'll find a way...just get to it, alright? If we're sitting ducks, there's no way that we'll be able to get to any of the nearby gateways."

Now it was Katerina's turn to smirk. She had long ago suspected that Faye secretly harbored feeling toward Spike, yet had never decided on asking since it wasn't her place. Now that the two were destined to work alongside the other for a hopefully brief duration, the deliciously irresistible thought of spying on the two came to mind, yet Katerina immediately waved the notion away. After all, what good was a feature presentation without any popcorn? Last time she checked the cabinets, they were most certainly fresh out of _any_thing decent.

Suddenly feeling Jet's reassuring hand upon her shoulder, Katerina smiled, then took his indirect hint as her invitation to leave with him, her smile only widening once the overall background noise of the ship reverted to that of Spike and Faye's incessant bantering.

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Faye couldn't help but observe how innocent Spike looked when he was lost within the throes of deep concentration, his tongue tirelessly peeking out of the corner of his mouth as he continued to tinker with the main controls panel like an adorably inexperienced mechanic. Pausing briefly to wipe his brow, he ordered coolly, "Hand me one of those wrenches, will ya, Faye?"

Faye, however, wasn't listening. She was far too absorbed in studying his nose...oh, how she loved it. The very tip curled slightly upward like that of a pixie, thus giving him a terribly impish look that made her just want to jump him and truly get to know the man beneath all the battle scars and mystery.

_"Faye_?"

She immediately looked up. She had been daydreaming, again.

Damn him for being so desirable!

"Um...yeah?", she finally managed to question, immediately reverting herself back to her patent 'you don't scare me' manner. "What the heck do you want, you stupid lunkhead?"

Spike grimaced at her 'pet name' for him, then pointed over towards the box of tools by the vixen's feet. "A wrench," he supplied, pointing yet again. "I've been asking you for what seems like ages, now."

"Alright, _alright..._keep your pants on," Faye muttered, suppressing a light blush from washing across her cheeks once she found herself wishing that he'd do just the opposite.

Bending down and ensuring the oblivious cowboy a good view, she called over her shoulder, "This wrench?"

Spike snorted. "Well I'd say that that's a pretty darn good guess considering the fact that it's the _only_ wrench in the box."

Faye glared daggers at the smug man before her, secretly cursing him for the mere fact that he could be so damn attractive and simply infuriating at the same time.

Tossing him the wrench within a state of pure indignance, Faye then leaned back against the cold metal wall behind them and continued to watch Spike work, the well-toned muscles of his back flexing beneath his thin yellow-collared shirt as she briefly made note of the fact that when he moved it was truly like a beautiful form of art.

His long, slender fingers danced across the wiring of the control panel as he let out an occasional grunt of frustration, Faye all the while cursing her foolishness as she couldn't help but be overtaken by the new type of sexuality that she felt exuding from his body and coursing through her very veins in response. It wasn't long before she grew hot with need.

Oh, God...not here. Not now.

Not with _him_.

_"I must be crazy,"_ Faye realized, absently rubbing her arm as the heat within her body only intensified. _"He's such an ass and I simply despise..._**_wait_**_. What _**_do_**_ I feel towards him, anyway? My emotions truly change with the tides of each day..."_

"Faye?"

She immediately snapped out of it. He had been calling her.

Locking eyes with the mossy-haired man before her, Faye couldn't help but allow her gaze to travel down to his lips as they began to form words that she was no longer paying any heed to, her impurient state of mind suddenly leading her to wonder what it would be like to kiss those lovely lips of his.

Would they be soft? Oh, most definitely. A man like Spike was bound to have silken lips that would leave any woman melting like sugar beneath his touch.

It was then that Faye suddenly realized that _she_ wanted to be his one and only woman, her long legs seemingly having a mind of their own as she found herself approaching her partner with a tremendous amount of newfound determination.

Seizing Spike by the collar, Faye purposely ignored his shouts of protests and pressed her mouth forcefully against his own, truly fearing that this would be her only chance to let him know how she truly felt.

Spike, however, wasn't responding to her kiss in the slightest. His lips remained pressed tightly together like his eyes, his mind inwardly urging himself to calm down as he then realized what a whore Faye truly was.

Of _course_ she would think that he'd lay her---it was only natural since she was so used to having men of all kinds falling down at her feet. When she'd say speak, they'd bark. Spike, on the other hand, was completely determined to let her know that she could never hold a torch to his beloved Julia..._ever_.

Pushing the vixen away from him with a surprisingly bruising amount of force, Spike irritably shook his head, then let out an indignant snort. "So how does it feel to take advantage of a man in love, Faye?", he demanded, her heart instantly dropping down to her feet once he seized her wandering hands away from his chest and gave her yet another push. "You _disgust_ me," he hissed, immediately turning away from her burning gaze before pitching the wrench across the room with a subtle clatter. "Just because you've got a great body doesn't mean that I'll sleep with you, you know!"

_"No,"_ Faye argued inwardly, _"it's not like that at all..."_

"I love _Julia,"_ he continued, his eyes glazing over with a pain that his violet-haired partner had never witnessed within those incredible russet orbs before. "I love _her,_" he repeated, now taking Faye by the shoulders before giving her a pleading look with his haunting eyes. "She still has my heart, Faye, so you can never have it. Not you, not anyone...just Julia."

Faye gave him a pained glance, then immediately turned away, realizing what a terrible mistake she had just made. Even though she had made several in her life, this was, by far, the absolute worst.

"Faye..."

She reluctantly looked up.

"Can you possibly leave me alone for a while? My head's _really_ starting to pound..."

Staggering over towards the kitchen, Spike sensed Faye watching him with fearful eyes as he began to root through the liquor cabinet, a sense of pure, unadulterated relief washing across his weary countenance as he pulled out a whiskey and shakily closed the door upon finding what he so desired.

As far as he was concerned, he had a delightful date ahead of him with a certain Lady Liquor.

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Katerina rolled sluggishly over in bed, only now wide awake due to overhearing a strange creaking noise from outside of her bedroom door. Squinting slightly through the velvety aura of darkness that currently enveloped her within its chary embrace, she soon came to notice the small sliver of light that was gradually leaking in through the door. Someone, she realized, was watching her.

"Who's there?", she demanded, pulling her sheets up and to her chin as if to protect herself from whatever was outside of her bedroom door. "I mean it...you'd better answer me if you want to live much longer!"

There came a muffled groan, then a trembling figure came staggering into her room, the foul stench of liquor reaching Katerina's delicate nose before she gasped upon recognition.

"Spike!", she exclaimed. "Y-you're _drunk_!"

_"Mmph,"_ he grunted in response, unsteadily collapsing down onto the bed before seizing her abruptly by the wrist. "God, Julia...you had me real scared back there. I thought I'd lost you," he rasped, pressing his svelte lips passionately against her hand before emitting a low moan amidst her silken flesh. "Please, Julia, make me feel alive, again..._just like before_."

Katerina blanched. "Spike, snap out of it! I'm _not_ Julia!", she insisted, frantically tugging at her arm with the full hopes of freeing herself from his overly-possessive grasp. When he didn't let go, however, she began to panic, her heart constricting tightly within her heaving bosom once the mossy-haired cowboy mounted her waist and pressed his mouth firmly against her own within a passionate desperation that lacked all sense of reason.

_"Julia_," he moaned, dotting several open-mouthed kisses along Katerina's jaw line and down to the crook of her neck, "oh, Julia..._God,_ I love you."

"Spike, _please_!", she wailed, writhing amidst his tender administrations once she felt his steel manhood press longingly against her thigh, his grunts and moans driving her over the edge as he immediately reached for the hem of her silky red nighty and began to pull it up and over her hips.

That did it.

Taking a deep breath, Katerina screamed for help as loud as she possibly could, the intensity of her piercing cries practically reverberating off of the walls and sending involuntary shivers down along Spike's spine as they both overheard several hollow footsteps racing frantically towards the room at top speed.

In a flash, the door swung wide open, a dumbstruck Jet standing there before them with Faye not too far behind.

"Spike!", he exclaimed, his brows immediately furrowing tightly together as if he were trying to discern what on earth was going on.

Spike slowly lifted his head up in order to meet with his comrade's burning gaze, a dumb expression immediately gracing his countenance before he opened his mouth and let out an unexpected hiccup. "Yo," he finally managed to greet, gradually sobering up. "How are ya?"

Jet, however, wasn't the least bit in the mood for formalities. "Get the fuck off her!", he growled, suddenly storming into the room and taking his comrade by the throat and lifting him up and off the bed.

"Jet, _no_!", Katerina pleaded, absolutely shocked by his sudden action. "He didn't know what he was doing..._honest_!"

Spike nodded sluggishly in response. "Yep, Jet 'ol pal, she's right. I didn't do _nothin'_."

Jet frowned deeply, then reared back and struck him clear across the jaw, Katerina crying out once Spike's lanky form flew across the room and hit the wall behind them with a dull 'thud'.

"Right," Jet acknowledged, pretending to dust off his hands, "I didn't_ 'do nothin'_, either, then."

Faye, meanwhile, was watching all of this in absolute shock. Why had he just done that? Did Jet actually like their new addition _that_ much, or did he just really believe in respecting women?

"Faye?"

She looked up. "Yes?"

"Make sure that Spike gets back safely to his room...there's no need for him to end up hurt worse than he already is," Jet groused, motioning over towards their lanky comrade's slumbering form in slight disgust. "As for Katerina, there's nothing to worry about. You just leave her to me, alright?"

Faye nodded, feeling tears stinging along her kohl lashes as she couldn't help but feel betrayed. After all, Spike had told her earlier that he could only love Julia, and yet just a second ago he was trying to put the moves on Katerina? She just didn't understand it!

Begrudgingly leaning down and giving the mossy-haired cowboy a sharp poke in the stomach, Faye couldn't help but frown in response when all he did was snore.

Sighing, she got down on her knees and lifted his head up into her lap, making a silent note in her head that Jet owed her big time as she began to drag Spike's limp form over toward the trash can in the corner in case he ever needed to throw up.

_Stupid lunkhead..._

**A/N:** Welp, again, I am SO sorry for the long wait and the mere fact that there was NO lemon in this chapter! I decided to postpone it to the NEXT chapter, haha. Sorry:-P Please review, ok, or else there won't BE another chapter! MWUAHAHA!


	7. Blind

**A/N: Wow, hi! It's been REALLY long, hasn't it? Hopefully you've remembered everything! And even if you haven't, I don't think it matters that much…everything's pretty self-explanatory. My only WARNING is that there will be a pretty intense lemon in this chapter, so hopefully you enjoy! Thanks! Please R&R! **

**CH 7: Blind**

After all this time  
I never thought we'd be here  
Never thought we'd be here  
When my love for you was blind  
But I couldn't make you see it  
Couldn't make you see it  
That I loved you more than you'll ever know  
And part of me died when I let you go

-Lifehouse: "Blind"

"Hey...hey, c'mon...wake up."

Spike groaned, rolling over before taking his pillow and placing it stubbornly over his head. "Just give me five more hours, ok, Jet?", he pleaded, his temples throbbing due to the after effects from yesterday's brief intoxication.

Sighing, Jet ripped the pillow off of the mossy-haired cowboy's face, insisting sharply, "Faye's gone, Spike, so you'd better get off your lazy ass and go after her!"

"Why do _I_ care?", he demanded, crossly placing a hand over his eyes to shield himself from the seemingly pulsating lights. "She's a big girl, Jet...she can take care of herself."

"Maybe so, but she took the _last_ of our savings!", the balding man retorted, thus causing his partner to slump. "Edward picked up the minx's signal, so we now know that she's hiding out in a deserted shack by Brewster's Bay."

Rolling his eyes, Spike slowly sat up in bed, questioning sleepily, "And you want _me_ to go after her? Is that it?"

Jet nodded. "Yeah, if it's not too much to ask..._your highness."_

Spike ignored the tremendous note of sarcasm within his partner's voice as he reached for his wrinkled suit on the back of a nearby chair. "Prepare the Swordfish for take-off", he urged flatly, slipping his yellow-collared shirt on about his lanky, yet muscular form. "I'll probably be out in about five minutes, tops."

Jet nodded, closing his partner's bedroom door behind him with a curious look etched out across his stony features.

Could he care _that_ little about Faye?

_'Oh, well,'_ he inwardly conceded. Wasn't his business. What went on between those two _stayed_ between those two.

As Jet meandered down along the restricted corridor, he failed to notice the small envelope taped to the outside of his door; inside were 6,000 woolongs for all of his trouble over the years.

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"1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3..._yes!_ That's it, Jet!"

Cursing, the balding man tried his damndest not to step on Katerina's toes, all the while wailing dejectedly in response, "Oh, _why_ was I cursed with my father's 'two left feet' gene? I can't dance worth a damn!"

Giggling, Katerina placed her left hand atop Jet's broad shoulder and her right within his own large one, smiling sweetly to herself once she realized that he was blushing a delicate crimson due to their contact.

"Ready to try again?", she questioned, gazing hopefully up within the recesses of his sky blue eyes.

Jet gulped, then nodded. "Uh, uh-huh. I mean...sure, _sure!_ Let's get this rug a-cuttin'!"

Laughing, Katerina allowed him to place his hand on her waist and lead her across the floor (despite the sloppiness of the procedure) and guide their bodies into the beginnings of the waltz, the brunette gaily chanting the counts over and over so that her comrade would not forget them.

"Hey!", Jet exclaimed after a brief moment, "I actually think I'm starting to get the hang of this!"

"Good! I _knew_ you could do it!", Katerina praised enthusiastically, pulling the hulky man in for a fierce embrace before he could possibly protest.

Blushing furiously, Jet allowed his arms to awkwardly encircle about the lovely young woman's tiny waist, his mind immediately coming to realize that she smelled of dried roses and vanilla.

_'She's so beautiful',_ he thought, his cheeks growing even redder due to his ridiculously school-boyish thoughts. _'I wonder what it would be like to hold her forever, to...to...'_

"Jet?"

He coughed, crashing down and back to reality in an instant. "Uh...yeah?"

"I'm going to go start dinner...thanks for dancing with me", Katerina declared, giving him a quick peck on the cheek before sashaying over to the doorway that led to the kitchen, Jet's wide and ever-ogling blue eyes seeming to nearly bug out of his head once he realized what had just happened.

She had just kissed him! On the cheek, yes, but it was a start...

Sighing, Jet placed a hand over his eyes, muttering softly to himself, "Man, I'm getting _way _too old for this..."

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Spike gazed dispiritedly out across the calm ripples of Brewster's Bay, not having the resolve nor the patience to enter the gaudy shack that was stationed roughly one-hundred feet away from him and his Swordfish.

Sprawling out across the hood of his off-red zip craft with the lethargy of a sloth, the mossy-haired cowboy laced his fingers behind his head with disgust, realizing that he owed it to his 'baby' to get her a new paint job.

"Damn scratches", he muttered, clamping a cigarette between his teeth before patting his pockets in search of his precious Zippo. Coming up empty-handed, he groaned, then spat his unused cancer stick out into the palm of his hand, promptly closing his eyes once he realized there was no use in doing anything but take a nap now that he couldn't get his nicotine fix.

After about fifteen minutes of this, however, Spike lazily re-opened his eyes, only to find himself gazing up into two startling jade orbs.

_"Jesus Christ!", _he swore, shooting up with the stamina of ten men before stumbling and falling off of his Swordfish with a dull 'thud'. Needless to say, he hadn't been expecting company.

Stifling a scornful smirk, Faye wrapped her red sweater about her lithe form with the hopes of keeping warm, her violet hair continuously whipping her in the face as she questioned disdainfully, "Did good 'ol Papa Jet send you here, or did you come of your own accord?"

"You took the last of our savings...of _course_ I'm here on my own accord", Spike muttered, dusting the sand off of his dark slacks as he finally managed to stagger back up and to his feet. "Are you going to make things easy for me, or do we have to do this the hard way?"

Faye frowned deeply. "Think what you'd like, Spike, but I gave Jet some money so that he could still survive."

"Well what about _me?",_ Spike demanded, now considerably sour.

"What _about_ you? I never once saw you trying to make my stay onboard the Bebop better like he did!", Faye retorted coldly, firmly crossing her arms beneath her breasts before turning her nose up in a huff. "If you came to bring me back or get the money, you're wasting your time. I'm _not_ leaving."

Spike suddenly smirked, agreeing good-naturedly, "Sure, Faye...it's your call, right?" Unwrapping a candy bar before her very eyes, he then proceeded to take a bite, only to have the violet-haired vixen lunging for the chocolate treat.

"Ah, ah, _ah!",_ Spike playfully reprimanded, slapping her hand away, "only _good _girls get candy, Faye Valentine, and last time I checked, you most definitely _weren't_ a good girl."

The vixen was absolutely livid. "Why, you..._you-"_

_BOOM!_

Faye screamed, immediately catching herself once she realized that it was merely thunder. Glancing over at Spike, however, she couldn't help but smirk at the disgusted look upon his countenance as tiny rain droplets began to saturate his large, bushy mop of hair.

"Come on", she suddenly urged, "we should go to the shack."

Spike, however, didn't even dignify her suggestion with a response, already bolting ahead of her with his hands shielding his head from the torrential downpour before Faye disdainfully followed suit.

Gasping for air, the two bounty hunters finally reached their destination and collapsed onto the floor upon entry, Faye lethargically kicking the door closed behind them as Spike immediately swiped her lighter from her pocket and went to light his cigarette at long last.

Cursing, he declared irascibly, "All my dang-blasted cigarettes are wet! What about you, Faye? Willing to donate to a poor 'ol cowboy in need?"

Searching her pockets, she unearthed, to her utmost dismay, her thoroughly saturated carton of Lucky Strikes. "Nope", she mumbled, sorrowfully shaking her head. "Sorry."

_"Grand",_ Spike muttered, sourly sucking on the end of his cancer stick before spitting it out and onto the floor with a subtle 'plop'. "The _only_ time I've got the shakes, too..."

"Well maybe you shouldn't have come looking for me, then", Faye sharply pointed out, suddenly quite irritable. "Since all you do is complain, save it."

Spike suddenly smirked. "What, for a rainy day, perhaps? If my theory is correct, I believe that if you stick your head outside you might get a pleasant little surprise."

_"Shut up."_

Thoroughly pleased with himself, the mossy-haired cowboy shoved his hands into his suit jacket pockets and leaned back against the wooden wall behind him, now quite content. Suddenly hearing the sound of teeth rattling, however, he popped one eye open, questioning lazily, "You cold?"

"Go fuck yourself", Faye ground out, completely withholding her pride as she hugged her knees to her chest and subtly leaned forward.

Laughing at this, Spike agreed amiably, "Yeah, you're right...I'm the best I can get around here, so why not?"

Choosing to completely ignore his statement, altogether, Faye grudgingly rolled over onto her side and pouted, shivering as she watched her breath form tiny clouds of condensation in the cool evening air.

_'Why am I here stuck with this ass and a half?',_ she wondered, miserably rubbing her hands together as she heard him chuckling from behind. _'I mean, I know I've had some pretty bad karma and all, but this is ridiculous! Being stuck with the one man who plagues my mind to no end it absolute torture!'_

"Faye?"

She immediately looked up, startled that she had been spoken to.

Giving her a lazy smile, Spike hunched his shoulders forward, then rolled them back, asking casually as if he had just read her mind, "What's your ultimate fantasy? The one dream you wish would come true? Just curious..."

Feeling her cheeks redden, Faye immediately looked away, reprimanding him irritably, "Fantasies and dreams are for children, Spike...I _have_ no longings or desires."

"I don't believe you."

Something deep within his voice sounded raw and tainted by lust, the vixen involuntarily shuddering with want as a sudden wetness gradually divulged between her legs.

Noticing a slight change in Faye's posture, Spike smirked, then stepped over her balled-up form so that they were finally face-to-face, his two-toned eyes burning into her jade ones as he accused flatly, "You're lying to me."

"I...", she faltered. Something was preventing her from vocalizing her true feelings, yet what he unearthed next from his jacket nearly made her heart stop.

_Her diary._

"Where did you get that?", Faye demanded, now terribly flustered as she reached out for her prized possession.

Pulling it back and out of her grasp with the fluidity that only Spike possessed, the mossy-haired cowboy smirked yet again, opening the small book before beginning to read:

_"Dear Diary,_

_I hate this life, yet I hate Spike even more. His smile never fails to torment me, nor his abominable eyes, yet it's probably just because I know that he will never be mine. His heart is sealed off from the rest of us, yet I hope to someday awaken his soul. An impossible task, I know, but I will try...I promise you that." _

Pausing, Spike leafed to yet another page, questioning cruelly, "Shall we read some more?"

"No..._please!_ You have _no_ right to read my personal thoughts and feelings as if they were yours for the taking!", Faye wailed, actual tears streaming down along her alabaster cheeks that she promptly tried to hide, but to no avail. Noticing his eyes on her, she tried yet again, "Please, Spike..._don't_ do this to me."

Something seemed to shift within the caliginous depths of Spike's dark eyes, yet he nodded, carefully casting the diary off and to the side. She thought she heard him mumble an apology, yet didn't accept this since she knew that she shouldn't be expecting miracles.

"So...you want me, is that it?"

Faye looked up, considerably surprised by his words. "I..._what?"_

"According to your diary, you want me", Spike clarified, his two-toned irises sliding along her dejected form with a sudden interest. "And you know what, Faye? You want me? You got me...but just for tonight."

Faye's heart leapt up into her throat at his thrilling, aphrodisiac-like words as he advanced upon her, her jade eyes wide and glittering as she questioned breathlessly, "But _why,_ Spike? After all this time..._why?"_

He smirked, lightly cupping her face within his hands before returning matter-of-factly, "I might as well fulfill _one _person's fantasy in my lifetime, right? I think it'd be cruel to deny you of your innermost needs and desires."

Faye opened her mouth to reply, yet was immediately denounced of her speaking privileges once Spike's mouth crushed hungrily against her own, his lips ravaging her own soft ones before darting his tongue past her lips and within her gifted orifice.

Gasping, Faye moaned about the fleshy organ within her mouth, Spike's tongue slowly retracting before plunging deep within her moist cavern once again.

Feeling as if she were drowning amidst his sweet water kisses, Faye allowed the mossy-haired cowboy to push her down and onto her back, his lips meeting with hers again and again as he began to grind his hips against her own in an undulating rhythm of passion that left her completely breathless.

_"Spike!",_ she gasped, only to feel his warm, satin lips dot a trail of passionate kisses down along the column of her neck and to the swell of her ample breasts, his skilled fingers which were used so often for fighting unfastening the clasp to her yellow crop top with the expertise that only this man could possess.

Her breasts spilling out into the cold chill of the night air, Faye felt her nipples stiffen instinctively once Spike moved down and began to devour one of the soft mounds within his mouth, his tongue tracing circles along either one before pausing and sliding in-between both breasts, where he then planted a lone kiss above her frantically beating heart.

Whisking her fingers within his unruly mop of dark green curls, Faye felt an inaudible sigh escape her lips once he darted his tongue within the recesses of her navel and began to frantically undress himself, his loins aching with an indelible passion that left her shaking and initially longing for more of the cowboy's incredible administrations.

Assisting Spike in the removal of her short shorts, Faye felt her doe eyes soften upon feeling her lover's eyes drinking in her every curve and contour, her heart beating rapidly within her bosom as he reached out his expert hands and cupped her softly within his grasp.

Moaning, Faye closed her eyes as he rolled his thumbs over her tingling nipples and pulled her to his mouth, his tongue and teeth invading the large, incredibly soft mounds as she arched against him and screamed his name, her ecstasy mounting with each and every new touch and caress.

Spike was different, she realized...she had never felt so alive...so _complete._

Sliding her tongue along his lips with the hopes of gaining access, Faye became delighted once her lover opened his mouth in acceptance, all of her fervent passion for the man before her going into that single kiss as she grasped at the sides of his face and moaned deeply.

The forbidden wetness between her legs had long ago divulged upon her junction, yet the violet-haired vixen was too proud to allow her partner to know this; at least, at such a precious moment that showed who was truly in charge.

As if sensing this, Spike suddenly stripped Faye of her silken black panties, his eyes dark and luminescent with an almost uncontrollable lust as he leaned forward and inhaled her scent with an intoxicated look upon his features, her body quivering within his strong embrace as he lowered his head and wrapped his tongue about her sensitive nub in one full-fledged moment of desire.

With a soft gasp, Faye squeezed her eyes tightly closed and gripped at whatever she could hold onto, her hips arching painfully off of the floor as Spike fought against her instincts to move and held her in place, his tongue plunging deep within her velvety canal and tasting the inner aphrodisiac that had been beckoning to him long before this very moment.

Wrapping her legs about his neck, Faye couldn't help but let out a muffled scream as she convulsed about his tongue, her first orgasm briefly sweeping her away before Spike lifted her up within the sanction of his arms and pressed his mouth passionately against his own. Her juices were now upon his lips, giving their kiss an almost forbidden taste to the sweet ecstasy that had yet to fully unfurl.

Reaching out a trembling hand, the violet-haired vixen felt her insides quiver upon touching his smooth, muscular torso, Spike closing his eyes once he felt Faye wrap her pouty lips about his nipple and softly suckle, her moans jolting him to ecstasy as she forcefully maneuvered him beneath her and straddled his waist.

Rolling her hips along his fully-enflamed manhood, the vixen wove her fingers throughout her soft mass of hair and threw her head back in utter delectation, her soft and breathy pants only picking up in tempo once Spike began to mimic her motions with his own hips.

Taking him by the hands, Spike guided his appendages up toward her breasts and forcefully made him cup, squeeze and tweak her soft mounds, her tongue wrapping teasingly about one of his fingers before seductively sucking it into her awaiting mouth and moaning about it for added feeling.

Feeling as if he couldn't take it anymore, Spike let out an animalistic growl and flipped Faye over so that she was now the submissive one, her dark eyes quite surprised and full of excitement once she realized that things might actually start to get interesting now that her lover clearly wanted to be in charge.

With one savage thrust, Faye felt herself being impaled to the hilt by her heavily-breathing counterpart, his hair falling into his line of vision as he began to vigorously pump in and out of her being with all that he had, their passion rapidly escalating as both fought to be the last to come.

Wrapping her arms tightly about Spike's neck, Faye gave him a deep and passionate kiss, his tongue invading her awaiting mouth as his thrusts began to grow more savage and more brutal; he couldn't help it...she brought the true man out of him.

Screaming, Faye bit down upon her lower lip, her slick canal contracting about Spike's member in several spasmodic pulses as he released an impassioned cry of his own, both lovers wilting down into one another's arms before moaning deeply.

As soon as this had happened, however, Spike immediately moved away from her and began to struggle back into his clothes, Faye's eyes tearful and clouded with misery as she realized, to her utmost chagrin, that what had been so special to her had merely been a joke to him.

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Katerina had been sent by Jet to go and inspect Faye's room to see if she possibly had any cigarettes left, but so far it was all for naught.

Grumbling to herself, the brunette then opened up the vixen's closet, standing up on her tiptoes in order to inspect the top shelf with her outstretched hands.

Suddenly, to her utmost delight, her grasp enclosed about a tiny something that felt very promising. Eagerly bringing the parcel back down before her, the brunette scrunched her eyebrows up in confusion upon realizing that it was a jewelry box of some sort.

Gingerly lifting the lid, Katerina gasped upon spotting the huge diamond inside, a tiny note on yellowed paper reading:

_To Faye, with all my love._

_-Whitney_

Feeling as if she were invading upon someone's personal matters, Katerina guiltily shut the box, only to realize that she very well could have stumbled upon something that was best to be forgotten.

**A/N:** Hey! Thanks SO much for reading! I'd appreciate it even MORE, however, if you'd review! This is personally one of my favorite stories that I've written, besides "Through His Eyes", so I hope you like it to! Please let me know in a review!


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